THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

DAVIS 


FROM  THE  LIBRARY 

OF 
SOPHIA  L.  MCDONALD 


SCIENCE    FROM    AN    EASY    CHAIR 

A    SECOND    SERIES 


BY   THE    SAME   AUTHOR. 

SCIENCE  FROM  AN  EASY  CHAIR:  A  First  Series.  Uniform  with  the 
present  volume.  The  subjects  treated  include  Darwin's  Theory, 
Protoplasm,  Life  and  Death,  the  Story  of  the  Common  Eel,  the 
Dragon,  Oysters,  Sleep,  Comets,  Tadpoles,  Gossamer,  the  Jumping 
Bean,  Hop-blight,  the  Most  Ancient  Men,  and  many  others. 
Methuen  &  Co.  1910. 

THE  KINGDOM  OF  MAN.       With  56  Illustrations.      $1.40  net. 
Henry  Holt  and  Company,  New  York. 

EXTINCT  ANIMALS.      With  Portrait  of  the  Author  and  218  Illustrations. 

New  Edition,  1909.      $1.75  net. 
Henry  Holt  and  Company,  New  York. 

The  Times  says:    "There  has  been  published  no  book  on  this  subject  combining 
so  successfully  the  virtues  of  accuracy  and  attractiveness." 

The  Athenceum  says  :    "  Described  with  a  masterly  hand." 


SCIENCE   FROM    AN 
EASY   CHAIR 


A   SECOND    SERIES 


BY 


SIR    RAY    LANKESTER 

K.C.B.,    F.R.S. 


WITH    FIFTY-FIVE    ILLUSTRATIONS 


NEW  YORK 

HENRY   HOLT   AND   COMPANY 
19*3 

LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
DAVIS 


PRINTED    IN    GREAT   BRITAIN 


PREFACE 

I  AM  encouraged  by  the  kind  reception  given  to  the  first 
selection  of  papers  from  my  weekly  contributions  to 
the  'Daily  Telegraph'  to  publish  a  second  series  of  'Science 
from  an  Easy  Chair,'  of  like  form  and  size.  I  have  given 
in  this,  as  in  the  earlier  volume,  some  figures  in  illustration 
of  the  articles,  and  have,  here  and  there,  revised  and 
expanded  the  originals.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
these  papers  are,  strictly  speaking,  "  occasional."  There  is 
no  attempt  to  treat  any  subject  in  a  complete  or  detailed 
way.  The  chapters  are  purposely  arranged  so  as  to  pro- 
duce a  variegated  result — a  mixed  assortment  in  which 
it  is  hoped  that  readers  of  differing  interests  may  find 
each  something  to  his  taste.  I  hope  that  some  may  be 
led  by  the  reading  of  one  of  my  short  chapters  to  look 
further  into  the  matter  of  which  it  treats  and  to  consult 
more  thorough-going  treatises  abounding  in  details  and 
pictures  which  are  beyond  the  scope  of  this  little  volume. 
The  two  volumes  bearing  the  title,  '  Science  from  an 
Easy  Chair,'  viz.  the  present  one  (second  series)  and 
that  published  in  1910  by  Methuen  &  Co.,  contain  only 


vi  SCIENCE   FROM  AN  EASY  CHAIR 

a  small  portion  of  the  articles  published  in  the  '  Daily 
Telegraph,'  one  every  week,  since  October,  1907.  It  is 
my  intention  to  collect  the  rest  of  this  material  in  book 
form  as  soon  as  I  can  find  time  to  do  so. 

E.  RAY    LANKESTER. 
October^  1912. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  A  DAY  IN  THE  OBERLAND i 

Fertilisation  of  Sage — The  Edelweiss — The  Jungfrau's 
Breast — Contortions  of  Rock-strata — The  Jungfrau 
Railway — Mountain  Sickness. 

II.  SWITZERLAND  IN  EARLY  SUMMER   .        .        .        -15 

Alpine  Flowers — Flowers  of  the  Meadows  and  Woods 
—The  Herb  Paris. 

III.  GLETSCH      ...  .....      22 

From  Baveno  to  the  Rhone  Glacier — A  Glacier  by  the 
Roadside— Changes  in  the  Glacier. 

IV.  GLACIERS 29 

Snow  squeezed  to  Ice  —  Regelation — Movement  of 
Glaciers — Vast  Size  of  Ancient  Glaciers — Distinct 
Glacial  Periods — Causes  of  Glacial  Periods — Date  of 
Last  Glacial  Extension — The  Flow  of  Glaciers — The 
Colour  of  Ice — Ice  Scratching  and  Ice  Polishing — 
Excavation  by  Glaciers. 

V.  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE     .       .      52 

The  Cinematograph — Ancient  Representations  of  Gallop 
— The  Dog  in  Mycenaean  Art — What  ought  an  Artist 
to  do  ? — Attention  as  a  Condition  of  Seeing — Judg- 
ment and  Prejudice — Natural  and  Artificial  Paces — 
Photographs  by  Electric  Spark — Use  of  Instantaneous 
Photographs — Errors  as  to  the  Size  of  the  Moon — 
The  Painter  and  the  Moon — The  Moon  on  the  Stage. 

VI.  THE  JEWEL  IN  THE  TOAD'S  HEAD  ....      85 

The  Decay  of  Credulity— A  Sceptical  Physician — How 
to  Test  a  Toadstone — Other  Magical  Stones — Medi- 
cinal and  Magical  Stones. 

VII.  FERN-SEED  .  96 

Invisible  Seed — The  Spores  of  Ferns — The  Prothallus 
of  Ferns — Fertilisation  of  Figs  and  Palms, 
vii 


viii         SCIENCE    FROM    AN    EASY    CHAIR 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VIII.  FERNS  THE  ANCESTORS  OF  FLOWERS      .       .       .107 

Chemical  Attraction — Transition  from  Ferns  to  Flowers 
— The  Gingko  Tree  and  Cycads — Extinct  Seed-pro- 
ducing Ferns. 

IX.  ELEPHANTS 119 

The  Indian  and  the  African  Elephant — Size  of  Modern 
Elephants — Ears  and  Teeth  of  Elephants — Earliest 
Elephants  brought  to  Europe — The  Elephant's  Legs 
— Tusks  used  in  Digging — Elephants  used  in  War — 
Geological  Strata  since  the  Chalk — Ancestral  Mam- 
mals— The  Typical  or  Ancestral  Set  of  Teeth — The 
Peculiarities  of  the  Teeth  of  Elephants— Extinct 
Relatives  of  Elephants — Ancestors  of  Elephants — 
Origin  of  the  Elephant's  Trunk. 

X.  A  STRANGE  EXTINCT  BEAST 148 

Fossil  Skeletons  and  Jaw-bones — The  Skull  and  Teeth 
of  Goats— The  Teeth  of  Rats— The  Rat-toothed 
Goat — Origin  of  the  Rat-toothed  Goat. 

XI.  VEGETARIANS  AND  THEIR  TEETH     .       .       .       .159 

Teeth  of  Carnivors — Mixed  Diets— Disease-germs  in 
Food. 

XII.  FOOD  AND  COOKERY 170 

Special  Diet  of  Various  Races — Food  and  Habit — 
Nervous  Control  of  Digestion — Wholesale  Food  and 
Mechanical  Cookery — The  Burnt  Offering  of  the 
Jews — Women  Neglect  Cookery — A  Great  German's 
Appreciation. 

XIII.  SMELLS  AND  PERFUMES     .       .       .       .       .       .184 

Smells  and  Memory — Accidental  Qualities — Bacteria 
and  Smells — Some  Remarkable  Smells. 

XIV.  KISSES 193 

Kissing  and  Smelling — Variations  in  the  Sense  of 
Smell — Radiation  and  Odours — Attraction  by  Smell 
— Unconscious  Guidance  by  Smell. 

XV.  LAUGHTER    .       . 204 

Why  do  we  Laugh  ? — Varieties  of  Laughter — The 
Laugh  of  Escape  from  Death  —  The  Laugh  of 
Derision. 

XVI.  FATHERLESS  FROGS 213 

Fertilisation  of  the  Egg-cell — Egg-cells  Developing  Un- 
fertilised—M.  Bataillon's  Discovery. 


CONTENTS 


IX 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XVII.  PRIMITIVE  BELIEFS  ABOUT  FATHERLESS  PROGENY    221 

Harvey  and  Milton — Reproduction  by  Budding — Stories 
of  Virgin  Births — Spiritual  Theory  of  Conception. 

XVIII.  THE  PYGMY  RACES  OF  MEN 230 

Characteristics  of  Pygmies — Colour  of  the  Skin — 
Egyptian  Stories  of  Pygmies  —  Congo  and  New 
Guinea  Pygmies — The  Causes  of  Small  Size — Small- 
ness  a  Correlation. 

XIX.  PREHISTORIC  PETTICOATS 244 

Early  Carvings  and  Pictures — Paintings  in  Caverns — 
Painting  of  Human  Figures — Artistic  Sympathy — 
Aurignacians  and  Bushmen  Allied. 

XX.  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY  AND  THE  CALENDAR  .        .        .256 

Make-believe  and  New  Year — Divisions  of  Time — The 
Difficulties  of  the  Calendar — Pope  Gregory's  Ten 
Days. — The  Astronomer  Royal  and  the  Shah. 

XXI.  EASTERTIDE,  SHAMROCKS  AND  SPERMACETI   .       .    267 

The  Real  Shamrock — Sham  Shamrock — Leonardo  or 
Lucas  ? — Various  Fats. 

XXII.  THE    STRANGE   HISTORY   OF   THE   TADPOLES   OF 

THE  SEA 276 

Sea-squirts— The  Anatomy  of  a  Sea-squirt — The  Sea- 
squirt's  Coat — The  Sea-squirt's  Young — Gill-slits — 
Structure  of  the  Sea-squirt's  Tadpole — Fixation  of 
the  Sea-squirt's  Tadpole — The  Frog's  Tadpole — 
Simplification  with  Specialisation — Mites  as  Deca- 
dent Spiders — Composite  Sea-squirts — Phosphores- 
cent Colonies — The  Organs  of  Phosphorescence — 
Solitary  Salps  and  Chain-salps — Tell-tale  Young 
Stages — The  Peacock's  Train  —  Simplification  of 
Train-feathers. 

XXIII.  MUSEUMS 310 

The  Muses — The  Museum  of  Alexandria — Picture  Gal- 
leries and  Museums — The  Purposes  of  Museums — 
The  First  Business  of  Museums — National  Value  of 
Museums — University  Museums — Not  for  Children 
but  for  Adults — Screens  and  Electric  Lifts — Frames 
and  Setting  of  Pictures. 

XXIV.  THE  SECRET  OF  A  TERRIBLE  DISEASE  .       .    330 

The  Angel  of  Death— The  Tyranny  of  Parasites- 
Typhus  and  Monkeys— Typhus  Fever  in  Russia. 


x  SCIENCE    FROM    AN    EASY    CHAIR 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XXV.  CARRIERS  OF  DISEASE        ....  -339 

The  Entrance  of  Parasites — Man  as  a  Ca-rrier  of  Disease 
— House  Flies  and  Disease. 

XXVI.  IMMUNITY  AND  CURATIVE  INOCULATIONS       .       .    346 

Inoculation  of  Smallpox — Antitoxins — The  Wonderful 
Properties  of  Blood — Germ-killing  Poisons  in  the 
Blood — Opsonins  or  Sauce  for  Germs. 

XXVII.  THE  STRANGE  STORY  OF  ANIMAL  LIFE  IN  NEW 

ZEALAND 357 

Strange  Birds — Destroyed  by  Europeans — Introduced 
Animals. 

XXVIII.  THE  EFFACEMENT  OF  NATURE  BY  MAN         .       .    365 

Disappearance  of  Great  Animals  —  Man's  Reckless 
Greed — Hope  in  Irrigation. 

XXIX.  THE  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  BISON  AND  OF  WHALES    373 

Drowning  in  a  Dead  Whale's  Heart— The  Value  of 
Whalebone — No  more  Turtle  Soup. 

XXX.  MORE  ABOUT  WHALES       ....  .    380 

The  Shape  of  Whales — Enormous  Pressure  of  Gas  in 
the  Blood— The  Killer  and  the  Narwhal— Fossil 
Whales. 

XXXI.  MISCONCEPTIONS  ABOUT  SCIENCE     .       .       .       .388 

What  Science  does  not  explain — Darwin's  Theory  is 
adequate — The  Aquosity  of  Water — Need  for  Inter- 
preters of  Science — The  Exploded  Ghost  called 
"Caloric"  —  Nightmares  Destroyed  by  Science  — 
When  did  the  Soul  arrive  ?— The  Great  Silence. 

INDEX 4°S 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

FIGURES    IN    THE    TEXT 

FIG.  PAGE 

1.  FLOWER  OF  THE  YELLOW  SAGE    .       .       .       .       .       .  4 

2.  THE  EDELWEISS 6 

3.  "FOLDING"  OF  ROCK  STRATA 8 

4.  A  MAN  EXTRACTING  THE  JEWEL  FROM  A  TOAD'S  HEAD  89 

5.  THE  PALATE  OF  THE  FOSSIL  FISH  LEPIDOTUS.        .        .  91 

6.  UNDER-SURFACE    OF    THE    FROND    OF    THE    COMMON 

POLYPODY  FERN 96 

7.  GERMINATION  OF  THE  SPORE  OF  A  FERN         .       .        .  100 

8.  UNDERSIDE  OF  THE  PROTHALLUS  OF  A  FERN  .        .        .  101 

9.  THE  SPERM-SACS  AND   EGG-PITS  OF  THE   PROTHALLUS 

OF  THE  FERNS 105 

10.  THE  RELATION   OF  THE  SPORE-PRODUCING  LEAVES  OR 

LEAFLETS  OF  A  ROYAL  FERN,  A  PINE  TREE,  AND  AN 
ORDINARY  FLOWER in 

11.  THE  INDIAN  ELEPHANT .     120 

12.  THE  AFRICAN  ELEPHANT 121 

13.  THE  CROWNS  OF  THREE  "GRINDERS"  OR  MOLARS  OF 

ELEPHANTS  COMPARED    . 126 

14.  SKELETON  OF  THE  INDIAN  ELEPHANT      .        .        .        .137 

15.  THE  TEETH  IN  THE  UPPER  AND  LOWER  JAW-BONE  OF 

THE  COMMON  PIG 140 

16.  A  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  THE  EXTINCT  AMERICAN  MAS- 

TODON         142 

17.  SKULL  AND  RESTORED  OUTLINE  OF  THE  HEAD  OF  THE 

LONG-JAWED    EXTINCT    ELEPHANT    CALLED    TETRA- 
BELODON    .  143 

xi 


xii          SCIENCE    FROM    AN    EASY    CHAIR 

FIG. 

1 8.  HEAD  OF  THE  ANCESTRAL  ELEPHANT — PAL^EOMASTODON 

19.  RESTORED  MODEL  OF  THE  SKULL  AND  LOWER  JAW  OF 

THE  ANCESTRAL  ELEPHANT— PAL^EOMASTODON    . 

20.  HEAD  OF  THE  EARLY  ANCESTOR  OF  ELEPHANTS— MERI- 

THERIUM— AS  IT  APPEARED  IN  LIFE      .       .       .       . 

21.  SKULL  AND  LOWER  JAW  OF  A  GOAT 

22.  TEETH  IN  THE  LOWER  AND  UPPER  JAW  OF  THE  GOAT 

23.  SKULL  OF  A  TYPICAL  "RODENT"  MAMMAL,  THE  COYPU 

RAT 

24.  TEETH  OF  THE  COYPU  RAT 

25.  SKULL  OF  THE  RAT-TOOTHED  GOAT,  MYOTRAGUS    . 

26.  SKULL  OF  A  CLOUDED  TIGER 

27.  TEETH  OF  THE  LOWER  AND  UPPER  JAW  OF  THE  SAME 

CLOUDED  TIGER'S  SKULL 

28.  FIGURE  FROM  A  GROUP  DRAWN  ON  A  GREEK  VASE 

29.  GROUP  OF  WOMEN  CLOTHED   IN  JACKET   AND    SKIRT 

WITH  "WASP-LIKE"  WAISTS 

30.  FURTHER  PORTION  OF  SAME  GROUP  AS  FIG.  29 

31.  Two  KINDS  OF  ASCIDIANS  OR  "SEA-SQUIRTS" 

32.  A  DISSECTION  OF  AN  ASCIDIA 

33.  BRILLIANTLY  COLOURED  STAR-LIKE  GROWTHS 

34.  TADPOLE  OF  A  FROG  AND  OF  AN  ASCIDIAN 

35.  ANATOMY  OF  THE  TADPOLES  OF  THE  FROG  AND  OF  THE 

ASCIDIAN 285 

36.  HEAD  OF  AN  ASCIDIAN  TADPOLE 287 

37.  FIXATION  OF  THE  ASCIDIAN  TADPOLE  BY  ITS  HEAD  TO 

A  ROCK 288 

38.  Do.,  A  LATER  STAGE 289 

39.  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  FROG'S  TADPOLE  INTO  A 

YOUNG  FROG 291 

40.  Two  INDIVIDUALS  OF  THE  SHIP'S  BARNACLE  .        .        .294 

41.  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  BARNACLE  FROM  A  FREE-SWIM- 

MING STAGE  WITH  Six  ACTIVE  LEGS    ....    295 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 

PLATES 

THE  JUNGFRAU  SEEN  FROM  ABOVE  THE  LAUTER- 

BRUNNEN  VALLEY Frontispiece 

I.  CONSECUTIVE  POSES  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE  Facing  p.  54 
II.  VARIOUS  REPRESENTATIONS  OF  THE  GALLOP    .        „         56 

III.  REPRESENTATIONS  OF  THE  GALLOP    .        .        .        „         58 

IV.  REPRODUCTION  FROM  MR.  THEODORE  A.  COOK'S 

BOOK,  'A  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  TURF'        „         64 
V.  THE  TRACK  OF  THE  RISING  MOON  „         76 

VI.  THREE  FIGURES— LORD  LANSDOWNE,  MR.  LLOYD 

GEORGE,  AND  MR.  ASQUITH  „         83 

VII.  TEETH  OF  THE  UPPER  AND  LOWER  JAW  OF 

MAN Between  pp.  166  and  167 

VIII.  TEETH  OF  THE  UPPER  AND   LOWER  JAW  OF 

THE  GIBBON     ....       Between  pp.  166  and  167 
IX.  FIRST  LOWER  MOLARS  OF  ORANG-OUTAN  AND 

MAN Facing  p.  169 

X.  VOTARY  OR  PRIESTESS  OF  THE   GODDESS    TO 

WHOM  SNAKES  WERE  SACRED      .        .  w        253 

XI.  FRESCO  DRAWING  OF  Two  FEMALE  ACROBATS       „        252 

XII.  THE  EYED  FEATHERS  OF  THE  PEACOCK'S  TAIL       „        307 

XIII.  308 


SCIENCE    FROM    AN    EASY 
CHAIR 

SECOND    SERIES 

CHAPTER    I 
A    DAY    IN    THE  OBERLAND 

I  AM  writing  in  early  September  from  Interlaken,  one 
of  the  loveliest  spots  in  Europe  when  blessed  with  a 
full  blaze  of  sunlight  and  only  a  few  high-floating  clouds, 
but  absolutely  detestable  in  dull,  rainy  weather,  losing  its 
beauty  as  the  fairy  scenes  of  a  theatre  do  when  viewed  by 
dreary  daylight.  It  is  the  case  of  the  little  girl  of  whom 
it  is  recorded  that  "  When  she  was  good  she  was  very 
good,  and  when  she  was  not  she  was  horrid."  This 
morning,  after  four  days'  misconduct,  Interlaken  was  very 
good.  The  tremendous  sun-blaze  seemed  to  fill  the 
valleys  with  a  pale  blue  luminous  vapour,  cut  sharply  by 
the  shadows  of  steep  hill-sides.  Here  and  there  the 
smoke  of  some  burning  weeds  showed  up  as  brightest 
blue.  Far  away  through  the  gap  formed  in  the  long 
range  of  nearer  mountains,  where  the  Liitschine  Valley 
opens  into  the  vale  of  Interlaken,  the  Jungfrau  appeared 
in  full  majesty,  absolutely  brilliant  and  unearthly.  So  I 
walked  towards  her  up  the  valley.  Zweiliitschinen  is  the 
name  given  to  the  spot  where  the  valley  divides  into  two, 

I 


2  A    DAY    IN    THE    OBERLAND 

that  to  the  left  leading  up  to  Grindelwald,  under  the 
shadow  of  the  Monch  and  the  Wetterhorn,  that  to  the 
right  bringing  one  to  Lauterbriinnen  and  the  Staubbach 
waterfall,  with  the  snow-fields  of  the  Tchingel  finally 
closing  the  way — over  which  I  climbed  years  ago  to  Ried 
in  the  Loetschen  Thai. 

The  autumn  crocus  was  already  up  in  many  of  the 
closely  trimmed  little  meadows,  whilst  the  sweet  scent  of 
the  late  hay-crop  spread  from  the  newly  cut  herbage  of 
others. 

At  Zweiliitschinen,  where  the  white  glacier-torrent 
unites  with  the  black,  and  the  milky  stream  is  nearly  as 
cold  as  ice,  and  is  boiling  along  over  huge  rocks,  its 
banks  bordered  with  pine  forest,  I  came  upon  a  native 
fishing  for  trout.  He  was  using  a  short  rod  and  a 
weighted  line  with  a  small  "  grub  "  as  bait.  He  dropped 
his  line  into  the  water  close  to  the  steep  bank,  where 
some  projecting  rock  or  half-sunk  boulder  staved  off  the 
violence  of  the  stream.  He  had  already  caught  half-a- 
dozen  beautiful,  red-spotted  fish,  which  he  carried  in  a 
wooden  tank  full  of  water,  with  a  close-fitting  lid  to 
prevent  their  jumping  out.  I  saw  him  take  a  seventh. 
The  largest  must  have  weighed  nearly  two  pounds.  It 
seems  almost  incredible  that  fish  should  inhabit  water  so 
cold,  so  opaque,  and  so  torrential,  and  should  find  there 
any  kind  of  nourishment.  They  make  their  way  up  by 
keeping  close  to  the  bank,  and  are  able,  even  in  that 
milky  current,  to  perceive  and  snatch  the  unfortunate 
worm  or  grub  which  has  been  washed  into  the  flood  and 
is  being  hurried  along  at  headlong  speed.  Only  the 
trout  has  the  courage,  strength,  and  love  of  nearly 
freezing  water  necessary  for  such  a  life — no  other  fish 
ventures  into  such  conditions.  Trout  are  actually  caught 
in  some  mountain  pools  at  a  height  of  8000  ft.,  edged  by 
perpetual  snow. 


FERTILISATION    OF    SAGE  3 

You  are  rarely  given  trout  to  eat  here  in  the  hotels. 
A  lake  fish,  called  "  ferras,"  a  large  species  of  the  salmonid 
genus  Coregonus,  to  which  the  skelly,  powan,  and  vendayce 
of  British  lakes  belong,  is  the  commonest  fish  of  the 
table  d'hote,  and  not  very  good.  A  better  one  is  the 
perch-pike  or  zander.  It  is  common  in  all  the  larger 
shallow  lakes  of  Central  Europe,  and  abounds  in  the 
"  broads "  which  extend  from  Potsdam  to  Hamburg, 
though  it  is  unknown  in  the  British  Isles.  It  is  quite  the 
best  of  the  European  fresh-water  fish  for  the  table,  and 
there  should  be  no  difficulty  about  introducing  it  into  the 
Norfolk  Broads.  It  would  be  worth  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries  to  do  so, 
as  the  perch-pike,  unlike  other  fresh-water  fishes,  would 
hold  its  own  on  the  market  against  haddock,  brill,  and 
plaice.  Another  interesting  fresh-water  fish  which  grows 
to  a  large  size  in  the  Lake  of  Geneva  (where  I  have  seen 
it  netted)  is  the  burbot — called  "  lote  "  in  French — a  true 
cod  of  fresh-water  habit  which,  though  common  through- 
out Europe  and  Northern  Asia,  is,  in  our  country,  only 
taken  in  a  few  rivers  opening  on  the  east  coast.  It  is  a 
brilliantly  coloured  fish,  orange-brown,  mottled  with  black, 
and  is  very  good  eating. 

Passing  up  the  Lauterbriinnen  valley,  I  came  upon  some 
wild  raspberries  and  quantities  of  the  fine,  large-flowered 
sage,  Salvia  glutinosa,  with  its  yellow  flowers,  in  shape 
like  those  of  the  dead-nettle,  but  much  bigger.  They 
were  being  visited  by  humble-bees,  and  I  was  able  to  see 
the  effective  mechanism  at  work  by  which  the  bee's  body 
is  dusted  with  the  pollen  of  the  flower.  I  have  illustrated 
this  in  some  drawings  (Fig.  i)  which  are  accompanied  by 
a  detailed  explanation.  Two  long  stamens,  01,  arch 
high  up  over  the  lip  of  the  flower,  /z,  on  which  the  bee 
alights,  and  are  protected  by  a  keel  or  hood  of  the  corolla. 
Each  stamen  is  provided  with  a  broad  process,  #2,  standing 


4  A    DAY    IN    THE    OBERLAND 

out  low  down  on  its  arched  stalk,  and  blocking  the  way 
to  the  nectar  in  the  cup  of  the  flower.  When  the  bee 
pushes  his  head  against  these  obstacles  and  forces  them 
backwards,  the  result  is  to  swing  the  long  arched  stalk, 


FIG.  i. — Diagrams  of  the  flower  of  the  yellow  sage  (Salvia  ghitinosa) 
a  little  larger  than  life.  i.  An  entire  flower  seen  from  the  side. 
st.  The  stigma,  a2.  The  pair  of  modified  half-anthers  which  are 
pushed  back  by  the  bee  when  inserting  its  head  into  the  narrow 
part  of  the  flower.  2.  A  similar  flower  at  a  later  stage  when  the 
stigma,  st.,  has  grown  downwards  so  as  to  touch  the  back  of  a  bee 
alighting  on  the  lip  of  the  flower,  and  gather  pollen  from  it.  3. 
Diagram  of  one  of  the  two  stamens.  /.  The  stalk  or  filament  of 
the  stamen.  a1.  The  pollen-producing  half-anther.  co.  The 
elongated  connective  joining  it  to  the  sterile  half-anther.  4.  Sec- 
tion through  a  flower  showing  ov.  the  ovary ;  nee.  the  nectary  or 
honey-glands;  st.  the  style;  li.  the  lip  of  the  flower  on  which  the 
bee  alights.  5.  Similar  section  showing  the  effect  of  the  pushing 
back  of  a2  by  the  bee,  and  the  downward  swinging  of  the  pollini- 
ferous  half-anther  so  as  to  dust  the  bee's  back  with  pollen.  The 
dotted  arrow  shows  the  direction  of  the  push  given  by  the  bee. 


THE    EDELWEISS  5 

with  its  pollen  sacks,  in  the  opposite  direction,  namely, 
forwards  and  downwards  on  to  the  bee's  back.  It  was 
easy  to  see  this  movement  going  on,  and  the  consequent 
dusting  of  the  bee's  back  with  pollen.  In  somewhat  older 
flowers,  which  have  been  relieved  of  their  pollen,  the  style, 
st.,  or  free  stalk-like  extremity  of  the  egg-holding  capsule, 
already  as  long  as  the  stamens,  grows  longer  and  bends 
clown  towards  the  lip  or  landing-place  of  the  yellow  flower. 
When  a  pollen-dusted  bee  alights  on  one  of  these  maturer 
flowers  the  sticky  end  of  the  now  depending  style  is  gently 
rubbed  by  the  bee's  back  and  smeared  with  a  few  pollen- 
grains  brought  by  the  bee  from  a  distant  flower.  These 
rapidly  expand  into  "  pollen  tubes,"  or  filaments,  and, 
penetrating  the  long  style,  reach  the  egg-germs  below. 
Thus  cross-fertilisation  is  brought  about  by  the  bees 
which  come  for  the  nectar  of  Salvia.  The  stalks  and 
outer  parts  of  the  flower  of  this  plant  produce  a  very 
sticky  secretion  which  effectually  prevents  any  small 
insects  from  crawling  up  and  helping  themselves  to  the 
nectar  exclusively  provided  for  the  attraction  of  the 
humble-bee,  whose  services  are  indispensable. 

As  I  walked  on  a  belated  Apollo  butterfly,  with  its  two 
red  spots  and  a  pale  swallow-tail,  fluttered  by  me.  Then 
some  children  emerged  from  unsuspected  lurking-places  in 
the  wood  and  offered  bunches  of  edelweiss  (Fig.  2).  This 
curious-looking  little  plant  does  not  grow  (as  pretended 
by  reporters  of  mountaineering  disasters)  exclusively  in 
places  only  to  be  reached  by  a  dangerous  climb.  I  have 
gathered  it  in  meadows  on  the  hillside  above  Zermatt,  and 
it  is  common  enough  in  accessible  spots.  The  flowers  are 
like  those  of  our  English  groundsel  and  yellow  in  colour — 
little  "  composite  "  knobs,  each  built  up  of  many  tubular 
"  florets  "  packed  side  by  side.  Six  or  seven  of  these  little 
short-stalked  knobs  of  florets  are  arranged  in  a  circlet 
around  a  somewhat  larger  central  knob,  and  each  of  them 


6  A    DAY    IN   THE    OBERLAND 

gives  off  from  its  stalk  one  long  and  two  shorter  white, 
hairy,  leaf-like  growths,  flat  and  blade-like  in  shape  and 
spreading  outwards  from  the  circle,  so  that  the  whole 
series  resemble  the  rays  of  a  star  (or  more  truly  of  a  star- 


FIG.  2. — The  Edelweiss,  Gnaphalium  leontopodium. 

fish  !).  They  look  strangely  artificial,  as  though  cut  out 
of  new  white  flannel  (with  a  greenish  tint),  and  have  been 
dignified  by  the  comparison  of  the  shape  of  the  white- 
flannel  rays  with  that  of  the  teeth  of  the  lion  and  the 
claws  of  the  eagle.  They  are  extraordinary-looking  little 
plants,  and  are  similar  in  their  hairiness  and  pale  tint  to 


THE    JUNGFRAU'S    BREAST  7 

some  of  the  seaside  plants  on  our  own  coast,  which,  in 
fact,  include  species  closely  allied  to  them  ("  cud-weeds  " 
of  the  genus  Gnapkalium). 

The  huge  cliffs  of  rocks  on  either  side  (in  some  parts 
over  a  thousand  feet  in  sheer  height  from  the  torrent) 
come  closer  to  one  another  in  the  part  where  we  now  are 
than  in  most  Alpine  valleys,  so  as  almost  to  give  it  the 
character  of  a  "  gorge."  At  some  points  the  highest  part 
of  the  precipice  actually  overhangs  the  perpendicular  face 
by  many  feet.  A  refreshing  cold  air  comes  up  from  the 
icy  torrent,  whilst  the  heat  of  the  sun  diffuses  the  delicious 
resinous  scent  of  the  pine  trees.  Above  the  naked  rock 
we  see  steep  hill-sides  covered  with  forest,  and  away  above 
these  again  bare  grass-slopes  topped  by  cloud.  But  as 
the  clouds  slowly  lift  and  break  we  become  suddenly 
aware  of  something  impending  far  above  and  beyond  all 
this,  something  more  dazzling  in  its  white  brightness  than 
the  sun-lit  clouds,  a  form  sharply  cut  in  outline  and  firm, 
yet  rounded  by  a  shadow  of  an  exquisite  purple  tint 
which  no  cloud  can  assume.  The  steely  blue  Alpine  sky 
fits  around  this  marvel  of  pure  whiteness  as  it  towers 
through  the  opening  cloud,  and  soars  out  of  earth's 
range.  What  is  this  glory  so  remote  yet  impending 
over  us?  It  is  the  Jungfrau,  the  incomparable  virgin  of 
the  ice-world,  who  bares  her  snowy  breast.  She  slowly 
parts  her  filmy  veil,  and,  as  we  gaze,  uncovers  all  her 
loveliness. 

The  rock  walls  of  the  Lauterbriinnen  valley  show  at 
one  place  a  thickness  of  many  hundred  feet  of  strongly 
marked,  perfectly  horizontal  "strata" — the  layers  deposited 
immense  ages  ago  at  the  bottom  of  a  deep  sea.  Not 
only  have  they  been  raised  to  this  position,  and  then  cut 
into,  so  as  to  make  the  profound  furrow  or  valley  in  the 
sides  of  which  we  see  them,  but  they  have  been  bent  and 
contorted  in  places  to  an  extent  which  is,  at  first  sight, 


A    DAY    IN    THE    OBERLAND 


CONTORTIONS    OF    ROCK-STRATA  g 

incredible.  Close  to  one  great  precipice  of  orderly 
horizontal  layers  you  see  the  whole  series  suddenly 
turned  up  at  right  angles,  and  the  same  strata  which 
were  horizontal  have  become  perpendicular.  But  that  is 
not  the  limit,  for  the  upturned  strata  are  seen  actually  to 
turn  right  over,  and  again  become  horizontal  in  a  reversed 
order,  the  strata  which  were  lowest  becoming  highest,  and 
the  highest  lowest.  The  rock  is  rolled  up  just  as  a  flat 
disc  of  Genoese  pastry — consisting  of  alternate  layers  of 
jam  and  sponge-cake — is  folded  on  itself  to  form  a 
double  thickness.  The  forces  at  work  capable  of  treating 
the  solid  rocks,  the  foundations  of  the  great  mountains, 
in  this  way  are  gigantic  beyond  measurement.  This 
folding  of  the  earth's  crust  is  caused  by  the  fact  that  the 
"  crust,"  or  skin  of  the  earth,  has  ceased  to  cool,  being 
warmed  by  the  sun,  and  therefore  does  not  shrink,  whilst 
the  great  white-hot  mass  within  (in  comparison  with 
which  the  twenty-mile-thick  crust  is  a  mere  film) 
continually  loses  heat,  and  shrinks  definitely  in  volume 
as  its  temperature  sinks.  The  crust  or  jacket  of  stratified 
rock  deposited  by  the  action  of  the  waters  on  the  surface 
of  the  globe  has  been  compelled — at  whatever  cost,  so  to 
speak — to  fit  itself  to  the  diminishing  u  core  "  on  which  it 
lies.  Slowly,  but  steadily,  this  "settlement"  has  gone  on, 
and  is  going  on.  The  horizontal  rock  layers,  being  now 
too  great  in  length  and  breadth,  adjust  themselves  by 
"buckling" — just  as  a  too  large,  ill-fitting  dress  does — 
and  the  Alps,  the  Himalayas,  and  other  great  mountain 
ranges,  are  regions  where  this  "buckling"  process  has  for 
countless  ages  proceeded,  slowly  but  surely.  Probably 
the  "buckling"  has  proceeded  to  a  large  extent  without 
sudden  movement,  but  with  a  lateral  pressure  of  such 
power  as  ultimately  to  throw  a  crust  of  thousands  of  feet 
thickness  into  deep  folds  a  mile  or  so  in  vertical  measure- 
ment from  crest  to  hollow,  protruding  from  the  general 


io  A    DAY    IN    THE    OBERLAND 

level  both  upwards  and  downwards,  whilst  often  the  folds 
are  rolled  over  on  to  each  other. 

This  crumpling  and  folding  has  gone  on  at  great 
depths — that  is  to  say,  some  miles  below  the  surface  (a 
mere  nothing  compared  with  the  8000  miles  diameter  of 
the  globe  itself),  though  we  now  see  the  results  exposed, 
like  the  pastry  folded  by  a  cook.  Immense  time  has  been 
taken  in  the  process.  A  folding  movement  involving  a 
vertical  rise  of  an  inch  in  ten  years  would  not  be  noticed 
by  human  onlookers,  but  in  600,000  years  this  would 
give  you  a  vertical  displacement  of  more  than  5000  ft. 
(nearly  a  mile !).  It  has  been  shown  that  in  Switzerland, 
along  a  line  of  country  extending  from  Basle  to  Milan, 
strata  of  10,000  ft.  to  20,000  ft.  in  thickness,  which,  if 
straightened  out,  would  give  a  flat  area  of  that  thickness, 
and  of  200  miles  in  length,  have  been  buckled  and  folded 
so  as  to  occupy  only  a  length  of  130  miles  !  The  former 
tight-fitting  skin  of  horizontal  rock  layers  has  "  had  to  " 
buckle  to  that  extent  here  (and  in  the  same  way  in  other 
mountain  ranges  in  other  parts  of  the  world),  because  the 
whole  terrestrial  sphere  has  shrunk,  owing  to  the  gradual 
cooling  of  the  mass,  whilst  the  crust  has  not  shrunk,  not 
having  lost  heat. 

Filled  with  interest  and  delight  in  these  things,  I 
reached  the  railway  station  at  Lauterbrunnen,  from' 
whence  the  little  train  is  driven  far  up  the  mountain,  even 
into  the  very  heart  of  the  Jungfrau,  by  an  electric  current 
generated  by  a  turbine,  itself  driven  by  the  torrent  at  our 
feet,  the  waters  of  which  have  descended  from  the  glaciers 
far  above,  to  which  it  will  carry  us.  In  a  few  minutes  I 
was  gently  gliding  in  the  train  up  the  slope  to  the 
"  Wengern  Alp  "  and  the  "  Little  Scheidegg"— a  slope  up 
which  I  have  so  often  in  former  years  painfully  struggled 
on  foot  for  four  hours  or  more.  One  could  to-day  watch 
the  whole  scene,  in  ease  and  comfort,  during  the  two 


THE    JUNGFRAU    RAILWAY  n 

hours'  ascent  of  the  train.  And  a  marvellous  scene  it  is 
as  one  rises  to  the  height  of  8000  feet,  skirting  the 
glaciers  which  ooze  down  the  rocky  sides  of  the  Jungfrau, 
and  mounting  far  above  some  of  them.  At  the  Scheidegg 
I  changed  into  a  smaller  train,  and  with  some  thirty 
fellow- passengers  was  carried  higher  and  higher  by  the 
faithful,  untiring  electric  current.  After  a  quarter  of  an 
hour's  progress  we  paused  high  above  the  "  snout "  of 
the  great  Eiger  glacier,  and  descended  by  a  short  path 
on  to  it,  examined  the  ice,  its  crevasses  and  layers,  and 
its  "  glacier-grains,"  and  watched  and  heard  an  avalanche. 
The  last  time  I  was  here  it  took  a  couple  of  hours  to 
reach  this  spot  from  the  Scheidegg,  and  probably  neither 
I  nor  any  of  my  fellow-passengers  could  to-day  endure 
the  necessary  fatigue  of  reaching  this  spot  on  foot.  Then 
we  remounted  the  train,  and  on  we  went  into  the  solid 
rock  of  the  huge  Eiger.  The  train  stops  in  the  rock 
tunnel  and  we  get  out  to  look,  through  an  opening  cut 
in  its  side,  down  the  sheer  wall  of  the  mountain  on  to 
the  grassy  meadows  thousands  of  feet  below. 

Then  we  start  again,  and  on  we  are  driven  by  the 
current  generated  away  down  there  in  Lauterbriinnen, 
through  the  spiral  tunnel,  mounting  a  thousand  feet  more 
till  we  are  landed  at  an  opening  cut  on  the  further  side 
of  the  rocky  Eiger,  which  admits  us  to  an  actual  footing 
on  the  great  glacier  called  the  Eismeer,  or  Ice-lake.  We 
lunch  in  a  restaurant  cut  out  as  a  cavern  in  the  solid  rock, 
and  survey  the  wondrous  scene.  We  are  now  at  a  height 
of  1 0,000  feet,  and  in  the  real  frozen  ice-world,  hitherto 
accessible  only  to  the  young  and  vigorous.  I  have  been 
there  in  my  day  with  pain,  danger,  and  labour,  accom- 
panied by  guides  and  held  up  by  ropes,  but  never  till 
now  with  perfect  ease  and  tranquility  and  without 
"  turning  a  hair,"  or  causing  either  man  or  beast  to 
labour  painfully  on  my  behalf.  We  had  taken  two  hours 


12  A    DAY    IN    THE    OBERLAND 

only  from  Lauterbrunnen  ;  in  former  days  we  should 
have  started  in  the  small  hours  of  the  morning  from  the 
Scheidegg,  and  have  climbed  through  many  dangers  for 
some  six  or  seven  hours  before  reaching  this  spot. 

I  confess  that  I  am  not  enchanted  with  all  of  the 
modern  appliances  for  saving  time  and  labour — the  tele- 
graph, the  telephone,  the  automobile,  and  the  aeroplane. 
But  these  mountain  railways  fill  me  with  satisfaction  and 
gratitude.  When  the  Jungfrau  railway  was  first  projected, 
some  athletic  Englishmen  with  heavy  boots  and  ice-axes, 
protested  against  the  "desecration"  of  regions  till  then 
accessible  only  to  them  and  to  me,  and  others  of  our 
age  and  strength.  They  declared  that  the  scenery  would 
be  injured  by  the  railway  and  its  troops  of  "tourists." 
As  well  might  they  protest  against  the  desecration  caused 
by  the  crawling  of  fifty  house-flies  on  the  dome  of 
St.  Paul's.  These  mountains  and  glaciers  are  so  vast, 
and  men  with  their  railroads  so  small,  that  the  latter  are 
negligible  in  the  presence  of  the  former.  No  disfiguring 
effect  whatever  is  produced  by  these  mountain  railways  ; 
the  trains  have  even  ceased  to  emit  smoke  since  they  were 
worked  by  electricity.  I  quite  agree  with  those  who 
object  to  "  funiculars."  The  carriages  on  these  are  hauled 
up  long,  straight  gashes  in  the  mountain  side,  which  have 
a  hideous  and  disfiguring  appearance.  But  I  look  forward 
with  pleasure  to  the  completion  of  the  Jungfrau  railway 
to  the  summit.  I  hope  that  the  Swiss  engineers  will 
carry  it  through  the  mountain,  and  down  along  the  side  of 
the  great  Aletsch  glacier  to  the  Bel  Alp  and  so  to  Brieg. 
That  would  be  a  glorious  route  to  the  Simplon  tunnel 
and  Italy  ! 

I  took  three  hours  in  the  unwearied  train  descending 
from  the  Eismeer  to  Jnterlaken,  and  was  back  in  my 
hotel  in  comfortable  time  for  dinner,  "  mightily  content 
with  the  day's  journey,"  as  Mr.  Pepys  would  have  said. 


MOUNTAIN    SICKNESS  13 

I  have  always  been  sensitive  to  the  action  of  diminished 
pressure,  which  produces  what  is  called  "  mountain 
sickness "  in  many  people.  Many  years  ago  I  climbed 
by  the  glacier-pass  known  as  the  Weissthor  from 
Macugnaga  to  the  Riffel  Alp,  with  a  stylographic  pen  in 
my  pocket.  The  reservoir  of  the  pen  contained  a  little  air, 
which  expanded  as  the  atmospheric  pressure  diminished, 
and  at  10,000  ft.  I  found  most  of  the  ink  emptied  into 
my  pocket.  Probably  one  cause  of  the  discomfort  called 
"  mountain  sickness  "  arises  from  a  similar  expansion  of 
gas  contained  in  the  digestive  canal,  and  in  the  cavities 
connected  with  the  ear  and  nose.  The  more  suddenly 
the  change  of  pressure  is  effected,  the  more  noticeable  is 
the  discomfort.  But  I  was  rather  please'd  than  otherwise 
to  note,  as  I  sat  in  the  comfortable  railway  carriage,  that 
when  we  passed  8000  ft.  in  elevation  the  old  familiar 
giddiness,  and  tendency  to  sigh  and  gasp,  came  upon  me 
as  of  yore,  as  I  gathered  was  the  experience  of  some  of 
my  fellow-passengers  :  and  when  we  were  returning,  and 
had  descended  half-way  to  Lauterbriinnen,  I  enjoyed  the 
sense  of  restored  ease  in  breathing  which  I  well  remember 
when  the  whole  experience  was  complicated  by  the  fatigue 
of  a  long  climb.  A  white-haired  American  lady  was  in 
the  train  with  me  ascending  to  the  Eismeer.  "  I  have 
longed  all  my  life,"  she  said,  "to  see  a  glaysher — to  touch 
it  and  walk  on  it — and  now  I  am  going  to  do  it  at  last. 
I  and  my  daughter  here  have  come  right  away  from 
America  to  go  on  these  cars  to  the  glaysher."  When  we 
were  descending,  I  asked  the  old  lady  if  she  had  been 
pleased.  "  I  can  hardly  speak  of  it  rightly,"  she  said. 
"It  seems  to  me  as  though  I  have  been  standing  up 
there  on  God's  own  throne."  I  do  not  sympathise  with 
the  Alpine  monopolist  who  would  grudge  that  dear  old 
lady,  and  others  like  her,  the  little  train  and  tramway  by 
which  alone  such  people  can  penetrate  to  those  soul-stirring 


I4  A    DAY    IN    THE    OBERLAND 

scenes.  They  are  at  least  as  sensitive  to  the  beauty  of 
the  mountains  as  are  the  most  muscular,  most  long- 
winded,  and  most  sun-blistered  of  our  friends — the 
acrobats  of  the  rope  and  axe. 

INTERLAKEN  ; 
September,  1909. 


CHAPTER    II 
SWITZERLAND    IN    EARLY    SUMMER 

IT  is  the  early  summer  of  1910  and  I  have  but  just 
returned  from  a  visit  to  Switzerland.  The  latter 
part  of  June  and  the  beginning  of  July  is  the  best  for  a 
stay  in  that  splendid  and  happy  land  if  one  is  a  natura- 
list, and  cares  for  the  beauty  of  Alpine  meadows,  and 
of  the  flowers  which  grow  among  and  upon  the  rocks 
near  the  great  glaciers.  This  year  the  weather  has,  no 
doubt,  been  exceptionally  cold  and  wet,  and  at  no  great 
height  (5000  ft.)  we  have  had  snow-storms,  even  in  July. 
But  as  compared  with  that  of  Paris  and  London  the 
weather  has  been  delightful.  There  has  been  an 
abundance  of  magnificent  sunshine,  and  many  days  of 
full  summer  heat  and  cloudless  sky.  A  fortnight  ago 
(July  1 6th),  and  on  the  day  before,  it  was  as  hot  and 
brilliant  in  the  valley  of  Chamonix  as  it  can  be.  Mont 
Blanc  and  the  Dome  de  Goutet  stood  out  clear  and 
immaculate  against  a  purple-blue  sky,  and,  as  of  old,  we 
watched  through  the  hotel  telescope  a  party  struggling 
over  the  snow  to  the  highest  peak. 

At  Chillon  the  lake  of  Geneva,  day  after  day,  spread 
out  to  us  its  limitless  surface  of  changing  colour,  now 
blending  in  one  pearly  expanse  with  the  sky — so  that  the 
distant  felucca  boats  seemed  to  float  between  heaven  and 
earth — now  streaked  with  emerald  and  amethystine  bands. 
The  huge  mountain  masses  rising  with  a  vast  sweep  from 


16         SWITZERLAND    IN    EARLY    SUMMER 

St.  Jingo's  shore  displayed  range  after  range  of  bloom-like 
greys  and  purples,  whilst  far  away  and  above  delicately 
glittered — like  some  incredible  vision  of  a  heavenly  world 
beyond  the  sun-lit  sky  itself — the  apparition  of  the  snows 
and  rocks  of  the  great  Dents  du  Midi.  All  this  I  have  left 
behind  me,  and  have  passed  back  again  to  dull  grey 
Paris,  to  the  stormy  Channel,  and  to  the  winter  of 
London's  July. 

The  incomparable  pleasure  which  the  lakes  and  valleys 
and  mountains  of  Switzerland  are  capable  of  giving  is 
due  to  the  combination  of  many  distinct  sources  of 
delight,  each  in  itself  of  exceptional  character.  A  month 
ago,  in  bright  sunshine,  I  went,  once  again,  by  the  little 
electric  railway  (most  blessed  invention  of  our  day)  from 
the  pine-shaded  torrent  below  to  the  great  Eiger  rock- 
mountain,  and  through  its  heart  to  the  glacier  beyond, 
more  than  10,000  ft.  above  sea-level.  On  the  way  back 
I  left  the  train  at  the  foot  of  the  Eiger  glacier,  and 
walked  down  with  my  companion  amongst  the  rocks  of 
the  moraine  and  over  the  sparse  turf  of  these  highest 
regions  of  life.  Everywhere  was  a  profusion  of  gentians, 
the  larger  and  darker,  as  well  as  the  smaller,  bluest  of  all 
blue  flowers.  The  large,  plump,  yellow  globe-flowers 
(Trollius\  the  sulphur-yellow  anemone,  the  glacial  white- 
and-pink  buttercup,  the  Alpine  dryad,  the  Alpine  forget- 
me-nots  and  pink  primroses,  the  summer  crocus,  delicate 
hare-bells,  and  many  other  flowers  of  goodly  size  were 
abundant.  The  grass  of  Parnassus  and  the  edelweiss 
were  not  yet  in  flower,  but  lower  down  the  slopes  the 
Alpine  rhododendron  was  showing  its  crimson  bunches  of 
blossom.  It  is  a  pity  that  the  Swiss  call  this  plant 
"  Alpenrose,"  since  there  is  a  true  and  exquisite  Alpine 
rose  (which  we  often  found)  with  deep  red  flowers,  dark- 
coloured  foliage,  and  a  rich,  sweet-briar  perfume.  Lovely 
as  these  larger  flowers  of  the  higher  Alps  are,  they  are 


ALPINE    FLOWERS  17 

excelled  in  fascination  by  the  delicate  blue  flowers  of  the 
Soldanellas,  like  little  fringed  foolscaps,  by  the  brilliant 
little  red  and  purple  Alpine  snap-dragon,  and  by  the 
cushion-forming  growths  of  saxifrages  and  other  minute 
plants  which  encrust  the  rocks  and  bear,  closely  set  in 
their  compact,  green,  velvet-like  foliage,  tiny  flowers  as 
brilliant  as  gems.  A  ruby-red  one  amongst  these  is  "  the 
stalkless  bladder-wort"  (Silene  acaulis),  having  no  more 
resemblance  at  first  sight  to  the  somewhat  ramshackle 
bladder-wort  of  our  fields  than  a  fairy  has  to  a  fish- 
wife. There  are  many  others  of  these  cushion-forming, 
diminutive  plants,  with  white,  blue,  yellow,  and  pink  florets. 
Examined  with  a  good  pocket  lens,  they  reveal  unex- 
pected beauties  of  detail — so  graceful  and  harmonious 
that  one  wonders  that  no  one  has  made  carefully  coloured 
pictures  of  them  of  ten  times  the  size  of  nature,  and 
published  them  for  all  the  world  to  enjoy.  Busily 
moving  within  their  charmed  circles  we  see,  with  our 
lens,  minute  insects  which,  attracted  by  the  honey,  are 
carrying  the  pollen  of  one  flower  to  another,  and  effecting 
for  these  little  flowers  what  bees  and  moths  do  for  the 
larger  species. 

Thus  we  are  reminded  that  all  this  loveliness,  this 
exquisite  beauty,  is  the  work  of  natural  selection — the 
result  of  the  survival  of  favourable  variations  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  These  minute  symmetrical  forms, 
this  wax-like  texture,  these  marvellous  rows  of  coloured, 
enamel-like  encrustation,  have  been  selected  from  almost 
endless  and  limitless  possible  variations,  and  have  been 
accumulated  and  maintained  there  as  they  are  in  all  their 
beauty,  by  survival  of  the  fittest — by  natural  selection. 
All  beauty  of  living  things,  it  seems,  is  due  to  Nature's 
selection,  and  not  only  all  beauty  of  colour  and  form,  but 
that  beauty  of  behaviour  and  excellence  of  inner  quality 
which  we  call  "goodness."  The  fittest,  that  which  has 

2 


i8        SWITZERLAND    IN    EARLY    SUMMER 

survived  and  will  survive  in  the  struggle  of  organic 
growth,  is  (we  see  it  in  these  flowers)  in  man's  estimation 
the  beautiful.  Is  it  possible  to  doubt  that  just  as  we 
approve  and  delightedly  revel  in  the  beauty  created  by 
"  natural  selection,"  so  we  give  our  admiration  and 
reverence,  without  question,  to  "  goodness,"  which  also  is 
the  creation  of  Nature's  great  unfolding  ?  Goodness 
(shall  we  say  virtue  and  high  quality  ?)  is,  like  beauty, 
the  inevitable  product  of  the  struggle  of  living  things, 
and  is  Nature's  favourite  no  less  than  man's  desire. 
When  we  know  the  ways  of  Nature,  we  shall  discover  the 
source  and  meaning  of  beauty,  whether  of  body  or  of 
mind. 

As  these  thoughts  are  drifting  through  our  enchanted 
dream  we  suddenly  hear  a  deep  and  threatening  roar  from 
the  mountain-side.  We  look  up  and  see  an  avalanche 
falling  down  the  rocks  of  the  Jungfrau.  The  vast  mountain, 
with  its  dazzling  vestment  of  eternal  snow,  and  its  slowly 
creeping,  green  -  fissured  glaciers,  towers  above  into  the 
cloudless  sky.  In  an  instant  the  mind  travels  from  the 
microscopic  details  of  organic  beauty,  which  but  a  moment 
ago  held  it  entranced,  to  the  contemplation  of  the  gigantic 
and  elemental  force  whose  tremendous  work  is  even  now 
going  on  close  to  where  we  stand.  The  contrast,  the  range 
from  the  minute  to  the  gigantic,  is  prodigious  yet  exhila- 
rating, and  strangely  grateful.  How  many  millions  of 
years  did  it  take  to  form  those  rocks  (many  of  them  are 
stratified,  v/ater-laid  deposits)  in  the  depths  of  the  ocean  ? 
How  many  more  to  twist  and  bend  them  and  raise  them 
to  their  present  height  ?  And  what  inconceivably  long 
persistence  of  the  wear  and  tear  of  frost  and  snow  and 
torrent  has  it  required  to  excavate  in  their  hard  bosoms 
these  deep,  broad  valleys  thousands  of  feet  below  us,  and 
to  leave  these  strangely  moulded  mountain  peaks  still  high 
above  us  ?  And  that  beauty  of  the  sunlit  sky  and  of  the 


FLOWERS  OF  THE  MEADOWS  AND  WOODS    19 

billowy  ice-field  and  of  the  colours  of  the  lake  below  and 
of  the  luminous  haze  and  the  deep  blue  shade  in  the  valley 
—how  is  that  related  to  the  beauty  of  the  flowers  ?  Truly 
enough,  it  is  not  a  beauty  called  forth  by  natural  selection. 
It  is  primordial  ;  it  is  the  beauty  of  great  light  itself. 
The  response  to  its  charm  is  felt  by  every  living  thing, 
even  by  the  smallest  green  plant  and  the  invisible  animal- 
cule, as  it  is  by  man  himself.  As  I  stand  on  the  mountain- 
side we  are  all,  from  animalcule  to  man,  sympathising  and 
uniting,  as  members  of  one  great  race,  in  our  adoration  of 
the  sun.  And  in  doing  this  we  men  are  for  the  moment 
close  to  and  in  happy  fellowship  with  our  beautiful, 
though  speechless,  relatives  who  also  live.  Even  the 
destructive  bacteria  which  are  killed  by  the  sun  probably 
enjoy  an  exquisite  shudder  in  the  process  which  more 
than  compensates  them  for  their  extinction. 

The  pleasures  of  flower-seeking  in  Switzerland  are  by 
no  means  confined  to  the  great  heights.  At  moderate 
heights  (4000  to  5000  ft.)  you  have  the  Alpine  meadows, 
and  below  those  the  rich-soiled  woods  which  fill  in  the 
sides  of  the  torrent-worn  valleys.  You  cannot  see  an 
Alpine  meadow  after  July,  as  it  is  cut  down  by  then.  It 
is  at  its  best  in  June.  It  bears  very  little  grass,  and  con- 
sists almost  entirely  of  flowers.  In  places  the  hare-bells 
and  Canterbury  bells  and  the  bugloss  are  so  abundant  as 
to  make  a  whole  valley-floor  blue  as  in  MacWhirter's 
picture.  But  more  often  the  blue  is  intermixed  with  the 
balls  of  red  clover  and  the  spikes  of  a  splendid  pale  pink 
polygonum  (a  sort  of  buckwheat)  and  of  a  very  large  -and 
handsome  plantain.  Large  yellow  gentians,  mulleins,  the 
nearly  black  and  the  purple  orchids,  vetches  of  all  colours, 
the  Alpine  clover  with  four  or  five  enormous  flowers  in  a 
head  instead  of  fifty  little  ones,  the  Astrantias  (like  a 
circular  brooch  made  up  of  fifty  gems  each  mounted  on  a 
long  elastic  wire  and  set  vibrating  side  by  side),  the  sky- 


20        SWITZERLAND    IN    EARLY    SUMMER 

blue  forget-me-nots,  and  the  golden  potentillas,  are  usual 
components  of  the  Alpine  meadow.  At  Murren,  and  no 
doubt  commonly  elsewhere,  there  are  a  few  very  beautiful 
grasses  among  the  flowers,  but  the  most  remarkable  grass 
is  one  (Poa  alpina),  which  has  on  every  spikelet  or  head 
a  bright  green  serpent-like  streamer.  Each  of  these 
"streamers"  is,  in  fact,  a  young  grass-plant,  budded  off 
"  viviparously,"  as  it  is  called,  from  the  flower-head,  or 
"  spikelet,"  and  having  nothing  to  do  with  the  proper 
fertilised  seed  or  grain.  The  young  plants  so  budded  fall 
to  the  ground,  and  striking  root  rapidly,  grow  into  separate 
individuals.  It  is  probably  owing  to  some  condition  in 
Alpine  meadows  adverse  to  the  production  of  fertilised 
seed  that  this  viviparous  method  of  reproduction  has  been 
favoured,  since  it  occurs  also  in  an  Alpine  meadow-plant 
allied  to  the  buckwheat,  namely,  Polygomim  vivipannn 
(not  the  kind  mentioned  above),  where  the  lower  flowers 
are  converted  into  little  red  bulbs,  by  which  the  plant 
propagates.  Both  the  viviparous  grass  and  the  polygonum 
are  found  in  England.  In  fact,  a  very  large  proportion  of 
Alpine  plants  occur  in  parts  of  the  British  islands  (a  legacy 
from  the  glacial  period),  though  many  which  are  abundant 
in  Switzerland  are  rare  and  local  here. 

At  a  lower  level,  in  the  woods,  we  come  upon  other 
plants,  not  really  "  Alpine "  at  all,  but  of  great  and 
special  beauty.  We  found  four  kinds  of  winter-green 
{Pyrold},  one  with  a  very  large,  solitary  flower,  white  and 
wax-like,  and  the  beautiful  white  butterfly-orchid,  with 
nectaries  three  quarters  of  an  inch  long,  and  other  large- 
flowered  orchids.  We  were  anxious  to  find  the  noble 
Martagon  lily,  and  hunted  in  many  glades  and  forest 
borders  for  it.  At  last,  on  a  concealed  bank  in  a  wood, 
between  Glion  and  Les  Avants,  it  revealed  itself  in 
quantity,  many  specimens  standing  over  three  feet  in 
height.  Martagon  is  an  Arabic  word,  signifying  a  Turkish 


THE    HERB    PARIS  21 

cap.  A  very  strange  and  uncanny-looking  lily,  which  I 
had  never  seen  before,  turned  up  near  Kandersteg,  at  the 
Blue  Lake,  beloved  of  Mr.  H.  G.  Wells.  This  is  "the  Herb 
Paris."  It  has  four  narrow  out-stretched  green  sepals, 
and  four  still  narrower  green  petals,  eight  large  stamens, 
and  a  purple  seed  capsule.  Its  broad  oval  leaves  are  also 
arranged  in  whorls  of  four.  Its  name  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  "  ville  lumiere,"  nor  with  the  Trojan  judge  of 
female  beauty,  but  refers  to  the  symmetry  and  "parity" 
of  its  component  parts.  I  was  not  surprised  to  find  that 
"  the  Herb  Paris  "  is  poisonous,  and -was  anciently  used  in 
medicine.  It  looks  weird  and  deadly. 

Marmots,  glacier  fleas  (spring-tails,  not  true  fleas), 
admirable  trout,  and  burbot  (the  fresh-water  cod,  called 
"  lote  "  in  French),  outrageous  wood-gnats,  which  English 
people  call  by  a  Portuguese  name  as  soon  as  they  are  on 
the  Continent,  and  singing  birds  (usually  one  is  too  late 
in  the  season  to  hear  them)  were  our  zoological  accom- 
paniment. There  were  singularly  few  butterflies  or  other 
insects,  probably  in  consequence  of  the  previous  wet 
weather. 

July,  1910. 


CHAPTER    III 
GLETSGH 

VARIED  and  uncertain  as  the  weather  was  in  Switzer- 
land during  July  of  the  year  1910,  it  showed  a  more 
decided  character  when  I  returned  there  at  the  end  of 
August.  For  three  weeks  there  was  no  flood  of  sunshine,  no 
blazing  of  a  cloudless  blue  sky,  which  is  the  one  condition 
necessary  to  the  perfection  of  the  beauty  of  Swiss  moun- 
tains, valleys  and  lakes.  The  Oberland  was  grey  and 
shapeless,  the  Lauterbriinnen  valley  chilly  and  threatening; 
even  the  divine  Jungfrau  herself,  when  not  altogether 
obliterated  by  the  monotonous,  impenetrable  cloud,  loomed 
in  steely  coldness — "  a  sterile  promontory."  Crossing 
the  mountains  from  the  Lake  of  Thun,  we  came  to 
Montreux,  only  to  find  the  pearl-like  surface  of  the  great 
Lake  Leman  transformed  into  lead.  Not  once  in  eight 
days  did  the  celestial  fortress  called  Les  Dents  du  Midi 
reveal  its  existence,  although  we  knew  it  was  there, 
immensely  high  and  remote,  far  away  above  the  great 
buttresses  of  the  Rhone  valley.  So  completely  was  it 
blotted  out  by  the  conversion  of  that  most  excellent 
canopy,  the  air,  into  a  foul  and  pestilent  congregation  of 
vapours,  that  it  was  difficult  to  imagine  that  it  was  still 
existing,  and  perhaps  even  glowing  in  sunshine  above 
the  pall  of  cloud.  Italy,  surely,  we  thought,  would  be  free 
from  this  dreadful  gloom. 

The  southern   slopes   of  the   Alps   are  often   cloudless 


FROM   BAVENO  TO  THE   RHONE   GLACIER    23 

when  the  colder  northern  valleys  are  overhung  with 
impenetrable  mist.  In  four  hours  you  can  pass  now  from 
the  Lake  of  Geneva  through  the  hot  Simplon  Tunnel  to 
the  Lago  Maggiore.  So,  hungering  for  sunshine,  we 
packed,  and  ran  in  the  ever-ready  train  through  to 
Baveno.  Thirty  years  ago  we  should  have  had  to  drive 
over  the  Simplon — a  beautiful  drive,  it  is  true — but  we 
should  have  taken  sixteen  hours  in  actually  travelling 
from  Montreux,  and  have  had  to  pass  a  night  en  route  at 
Brieg  !  A  treacherous  gleam  of  sunshine  lasting  half  an 
hour  welcomed  us  on  emerging  from  the  Simplon  tunnel, 
and  then  for  eight  days  the  same  leaden  aspect  of  sky, 
mountain,  and  lake  as  that  which  we  had  left  in 
Switzerland  was  maintained.  Even  this  could  not  spoil 
altogether  the  beauty  and  interest  of  the  fine  old  garden 
of  the  Borromeo  family  on  the  Isola  Bella.  Really  big 
cypress  trees,  magnificent  specimens  of  the  Weymouth 
pine — the  white  pine  of  the  United  States,  Pinus  strobus, 
first  brought  from  the  St.  Lawrence  in  1705,  and  planted 
in  Wiltshire  by  Lord  Weymouth — a  splendid  camphor 
tree,  strange  varieties  of  the  hydrangea,  and  many  other 
old-fashioned  shrubs  adorn  the  quaint  and  well-designed 
terraces  of  that  seat  of  ancient  peace.  The  granite 
quarries  close  behind  Baveno,  and  the  cutting  and 
chiselling  of  the  granite  by  a  population  of  some  2000 
quarrymen  and  stonemasons,  were  not  deprived  of  their 
human  interest  by  rain  and  skies  more  grey  than  the 
granite  itself.  But,  at  last,  we  gave  up  Italy  in  despair, 
retreated  through  the  tunnel  one  morning,  and  an  hour 
after  mid-day  were  careering  in  a  carriage  along  the 
Rhone  Valley — with  jingling  of  bells  and  much  cracking 
of  a  harmless  whip — upwards  on  a  drive  of  seven  hours 
to  the  Rhone  glacier,  to  the  hotel  called  "  Gletsch,"  staking 
all  on  the  last  chance  of  a  change  in  the  weather. 

We  passed  the   enclosed    meadow  near   Brieg,  whence 


24  GLETSGH 

three  days  later  the  splendidly  daring  South-American 
aviator  started  on  his  flight  across  the  Alps,  only  to  die 
after  victory — a  hero,  whose  courage  and  fatal  triumph 
were  worthy  of  a  better  cause.  After  some  hours,  passing 
many  a  black-timbered  mountain  village — the  houses  of 
which,  set  on  stone  piles,  are  the  direct  descendants  of 
the  pile-supported  lake  dwellings  of  the  Stone  Age  on 
the  shores  of  the  Lake  of  Neuchatel — we  came  to  the 
upper  and  narrower  part  of  the  valley.  The  road  as- 
cended by  zig-zags  through  pine  forests,  in  which  the 
large  blue  gentian,  with  flowers  and  leaves  in  double 
rows  on  a  gracefully  bowed  stem,  were  abundant.  In 
open  places  the  barberry,  with  its  dense  clusters  of 
crimson  fruit,  was  so  abundunt  as  actually  to  colour  the 
landscape,  whilst  a  huge  yellow  mullen  nearly  as  big  as 
a  hollyhock,  and  bright  Alpine  "  pinks,"  were  there  in 
profusion.  Before  the  night  fell,  a  long,  furry  animal, 
twice  the  size  of  a  squirrel,  and  of  dark  brown  colour, 
crossed  the  road  with  a  characteristic  undulating  move- 
ment, a  few  feet  in  front  of  our  carriage.  It  was  a  pine- 
marten,  the  largest  of  the  weasel  and  pole-cat  tribe,  still 
to  be  found  in  our  own  north  country.  It  must  not 
be  confused  with  the  paler  beech-marten  of  Anne  of 
Brittany,  which  often  takes  up  its  abode  in  the  roofs  of 
Breton  houses,  according  to  my  own  experience  in  Dinard 
and  the  neighbourhood.  Night  fell,  and  our  horses  were 
still  toiling  up  the  mountain  road.  Impenetrable  chasms 
lay  below,  and  vast  precipices  above  us.  We  crossed  a 
bridge,  and  seemed  in  the  darkness  to  plunge  into  the 
sheer  rock  itself,  and,  though  thrilled  with  a  delightful 
sense  of  mystery  and  awe,  were  feeling  a  little  anxiety  at 
the  prospect  of  another  hour  among  these  gloomy,  in- 
tangible dangers,  when  we  rounded  a  projecting  rock,  and 
suddenly  a  brilliant  constellation  burst  into  view  in  the 
sky.  It  was  the  electric  outfit  of  the  Belvedere  Hotel, 


A    GLACIER    BY    THE    ROADSIDE  25 

7500  feet  above  the  sea,  and  far  up  more  than  a  thousand 
feet  above  us  and  the  glacier's  snout.  In  another  minute 
the  great  arc  lamps  of  the  Gletsch  Hotel,  close  to  us, 
blazed  forth,  and  we  were  welcomed  into  its  snug  hall 
and  warmed  by  the  great  log-fire  burning  on  its  hospitable 
hearth. 

The  next  day  we  were  early  afoot  in  the  most  brilliant 

sunshine,    under    a   cloudless   sky — really  perfect   Alpine 

weather.      In  the  shade  the  persisting  night-frost  told   of 

the  great   height  of  the  marvellous  amphitheatre  which 

lay  before  us.     The  valley  by  which  we  had  mounted  the 

previous  night  abruptly  abandons  its  steep  gradient  and 

gorge-like  character,  and  widens  into  a  flat,  boulder-strewn 

plain,  a  little  over  a  mile  in   diameter,  surrounded,  except 

for  the   narrow   gap   by  which   we   had   entered,   by    the 

steep,  rocky  sides  of  huge  mountains.      At  the  far  end  of 

the    plain,    a    mile    off,    the    great   Rhone  glacier  comes 

toppling  over  the  precipice,  a  snowy  white,  frozen  cascade 

of  a  thousand  feet  in  height.      It  looks  even  nearer  than 

it  is,  and  the  gigantic  teeth  of  white  ice  at  the  top  of  the 

fall   seem  no  bigger  than   sentry-boxes,  though  we  know 

they  are  more  nearly  the  size   of  church  steeples.     The 

celebrated  Furca  road  zig-zags  up  the  mountain  side  for 

a  thousand  feet  close  to  the  glacier,  and  when  you  drive 

up   it  and  reach  the  height  of  the  Belvedere,    you    can 

step   on   to   the  ice   close   to   the   road.     Then   you    can 

mount   on    to   the    flat,   unbroken   surface   of   the    broad 

glacier  stream  above  the  fall,  and  trace  the  glacier  to  the 

snow-covered  mountain-tops  in  which  it  originates.    There 

is  no  such  close  and  intimate  view  of  a  glacier  to  be  had 

elsewhere    in    Europe    by    the    traveller  in    diligence  or 

carriage.      We   walked   by  the  side  of  the  infant  Rhone, 

among    the    pebbles    and    boulders,  to  the    overhanging 

snout  of  the  great  glacier  from   beneath  which  the  river 

emerges.       A    very   beautiful   wine-red  species  of  dwarf 


26  GLETSGH 

willow-herb  (Efilobtum  Fleischer?)  was  growing  abun- 
dantly in  tufts  among  the  pebbles,  and  many  other  Alpine 
plants  greeted  our  eyes.  The  heat  of  the  sun  was  that 
of  midsummer,  whilst  a  delicate  air  of  icy  freshness 
diffused  itself  from  the  great  frozen  mass  in  front  of  us. 

Some  large  blocks  of  the  glacer  ice  had  fallen  from 
above,  and  lay  conveniently  for  examination.  Whilst  the 
walls  of  the  ice-caves  which  have  been  cut  into  this  and 
other  glaciers  present  a  perfectly  smooth,  continuous 
surface  of  clear  ice,  these  fragments  which  had  fallen 
from  the  surface  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  sun  were,  as 
seen  in  the  mass,  white  and  opaque.  When  a  stick  was 
thrust  into  the  mass,  it  broke  into  many-sided  lumps  of 
the  size  of  a  tennis-ball,  which  separated,  and  fell  apart 
in  a  heap,  like  assorted  coals  thrown  from  a  scuttle, 
though  white  instead  of  black.  These  were  the  curious 
glacier  nodules,  "  grains  du  glacier,"  or  "  Gletcherkorne," 
characteristic  of  glacier  ice  as  contrasted  with  lake  ice. 
This  structure  of  the  glacier  ice  is  peculiar  to  it,  and  is 
only  made  evident  where  the  sun's  rays  penetrate  it  and 
melt  the  less  pure  ice  which  holds  together  the  crystalline 
nodules.  According  to  Dr.  J.  Young  Buchanan,  these 
nodules  are  masses  of  ice  crystals  comparatively  free 
from  mineral  matter,  whilst  the  water  around  them,  which 
freezes  less  readily,  contains  mineral  impurities  in  solution. 
The  presence  of  saline  matter  in  solution  lowers,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  amount,  the  freezing-point  of  water. 
Accordingly,  although  frozen  into  one  solid  mass  with  the 
nodules,  the  cementing  ice  melts  under  the  heat  of  the 
penetrating  rays  of  the  sun  sooner — that  is,  at  a  lower 
temperature — than  do  the  purer  crystalline  nodules,  and 
allows  them  to  separate.  It  is  owing  to  this  that  the 
exposed  surface  of  glacier  ice  is  white  and  powdery, 
disintegrated  by  the  superficial  heat,  and  forming  a  rough 
surface,  on  which  one  can  safely  walk.  Lake  ice  does  not 


CHANGES    IN    THE    GLACIER  27 

break  up  in  this  manner  under  the  sun's  rays,  but  as  it 
melts  retains  its  smooth,  slippery  surface.  It  is  formed 
in  water,  and  not  from  the  cementing  and  regelation  of 
the  powdery  crystalline  snow,  as  is  glacier  ice. 

Pictures  of  the  Rhone  glacier  published  in  the  year 
1820  and  in  the  eighteenth  century  show  that  in  old 
days  the  terminal  ice-fall  did  not  end  abruptly  in  a 
narrowed  "  snout,"  as  it  does  now,  but  spread  out  into  a 
very  broad  half-dome  or  fan-shaped,  apron-like  expanse, 
some  700  ft.  high  and  a  quarter  of  a  mile  broad  at  the 
base.  It  was  considered  one  of  the  wonders  of  Switzerland, 
and  was  pictured  in  an  exaggerated  way  in  travellers' 
books.  In  1873,  when  I  first  drove  down  the  Furka 
Road  and  saw  the  Rhone  glacier,  this  wonderful,  apron- 
like,  terminal  expansion  of  the  glacier  was  still  in  exis- 
tence. It  has  now  completely  disappeared.  In  those 
days,  and  for  many  years  later,  there  was  only  a  mule- 
path  over  the  adjacent  Grimsel  Pass,  but  now  there  is  a 
carriage  road  leading  out  of  the  Rhone  glacier's  basin 
northwards  to  Meiringen,  whilst  the  old-established  Furka 
Road,  at  the  other  side  of  the  amphitheatre,  leads  east- 
ward to  Andermatt,  the  St.  Gothard,  and  the  Lake  of 
Lucerne.  Hence  three  great  roads  now  meet  at  Gletsch. 
Before  leaving  this  wondrous  spot  we  inspected  some 
plump  marmots,  who  were  leading  a  happy  life  of  ease 
and  plenty  in  a  large  cage  erected  in  front  of  the  hotel  ; 
then  in  absolutely  perfect  weather  we  mounted  the 
Grimsel  Road.  We  heard  the  frequent  whistling  of 
uncaged  marmots  as  we  ascended,  and  saw  many  of  the 
little  beasts  sitting  up  on  the  rocks  and  diving  into 
concealing  crevices  as  we  approached,  just  as  do  their 
smaller  but  closely  allied  cousins  the  prairie  marmots  (so- 
called  "prairie  dogs")  of  North  America.  The  view,  as 
one  ascends  the  Grimsel,  of  the  snow-peaks  around 
Gletsch  is  a  fine  one  in  itself,  but  is  vastly  enhanced  in 


28  GLETSGH 

beauty  by  the  plunge  downwards  of  the  rocky  gorge  made 
by  the  Rhone  as  it  leaves  the  flat-bottomed  amphitheatre  of 
its  birth.  The  top  of  the  Grimsel  Pass,  which  is  a  little 
over  7000  ft.  above  sea-level,  is  the  most  desolate  and 
bare  of  all  such  mountain  passes.  The  rock  is  dark  grey, 
almost  black,  and  of  an  unusually  hard  character.  It  is 
unstratified,  and  so  resistant  that  it  is  everywhere  worn 
into  smooth,  rounded  surfaces,  instead  of  being  splintered 
and  shattered.  A  small,  black-looking  lake  at  the  top  of 
the  pass  contains  to  this  day  the  bones  of  500  Austrians 
and  French  who  fought  here  in  1799.  It  is  called  the 
Totensee,  or  Dead  Men's  Lake.  At  this  point  one  stands 
on  a  great  watershed,  dividing  the  rivers  of  the  north 
from  the  rivers  of  the  south.  You  may  put  one  foot  in  a 
rivulet  which  is  carrying  water  down  the  Aar  Valley,  and 
through  the  Lakes  of  Brienz  and  of  Thun  to  the  Rhine 
and  North  Sea,  whilst  you  keep  the  other  in  another 
little  stream,  whose  particles  will  pass  by  the  Rhone  gorge 
and  valley  through  the  Lake  of  Geneva  to  the  great  Rhone 
and  the  Mediterranean.  Three  incomparably  fine  days 
—September  I7th,  iSth,  and  I9th — atoned  for  three 
weeks  of  sunless  cloud.  One  of  them  we  spent  in  the 
high  valley  of  Rosenlaui,  where  are  hairy-lipped  gentians 
and  the  blue-iced  glacier,  but  of  these  I  have  not  space 
to  tell.  Then  the  clouds  and  the  rain  resumed  their 
odious  domination,  and  we  left  Lucerne  and  its  lakes 
invisible,  overwhelmed  in  grey  fog,  and  made  for  Paris. 

October,  1910. 


CHAPTER    IV 
GLACIERS 

PEOPLE  who  have  not  seen  a  glacier,  walked  on  a 
glacier,  chipped  into  it  with  an  ice-axe,  and  followed 
it  up  from  its  melting  "  snout "  and  decidedly  dirty,  rock- 
strewn  lower  end  to  the  regions  where  it  is  pure  and 
white,  split  into  yawning  chasms  and  raised  into  great 
teeth  or  pinnacles — those,  indeed,  who  have  not  followed 
it  yet  further  from  these  middle  heights,  far  on  up  the 
rocky  sides  of  a  great  mountain,  until  the  region  is 
reached  where  it  ceases  to  be  ice,  and  becomes  a  mass  of 
soft,  powdery  snow — do  not  know  one  of  the  most 
curious,  unimaginable,  and  powerful  agencies  in  Nature. 
We  inhabitants  of  the  British  Isles,  were  we  confined  to 
our  limited  territory,  and  un-informed  by  travellers  as  to 
the  wonders  of  the  snow-world,  would  never  guess  or 
infer  from  anything  we  ever  see  here  that  such  things  as 
glaciers  exist.  There  is  no  parallel  to  the  peculiarity,  the 
unexpected  and  astonishing  quality,  of  a  glacier.  Even 
a  volcano  is  not  so  remote  from  what  one  could  have 
expected.  Rivers,  lakes,  and  seas  we  know,  and  we  can 
imagine  them  bigger  and  deeper.  Waterfalls  and  great 
white  clouds,  in  fact  all  the  forms  of  water,  are  familiar  to 
us.  Mountains,  even  winter  snow-capped  mountains,  we 
sometimes  see  in  our  own  island,  and  can  imagine  them 
bigger.  We  have  handled  ice  and  snow,  too.  Yet 
nothing  which  we  know  by  experience  here  prepares  us 


30  GLACIERS 

for  the  complete  change  in  the  appearance,  character,  and 
behaviour  of  snow  when  it  is  piled  in  vast  thickness  on 
the  slopes  of  mountains  so  high  that  it  is  ever  renewed, 
and  never  melts  away  on  their  peaks  and  shoulders. 

We  are  accustomed  to  see  snow  slowly  melt  and  run 
away  as  water,  and  the  more  observant  will  have  noted 
that  in  prolonged  frost,  snow,  even  when  piled  in  heaps 
by  the  roadside,  disappears  without  thawing.  It  evapor- 
ates, slowly  but  surely,  straight  away  into  the  form  of  gas 
— invisible  aqueous  vapour.  That  is  a  rather  unusual 
property  for  a  solid  body  to  possess.  In  that  way  a 
certain  return  of  evaporated  snow  to  the  atmosphere  from 
which  it  was  precipitated  in  crystalline  flakes  takes  place. 
But  the  amount  is  small.  We  are  not  accustomed  to  find 
a  solid  body  evaporating.  Volatile  liquids  are  common, 
but  volatile  solids  are  unusual.  The  metals  and  rocks  do 
not  behave  in  this  way.  The  only  familiar  parallels  to 
ice  and  snow  in  this  respect  are  the  vegetable  product 
camphor  and  some  allied  bodies.  They  pass  directly 
from  the  solid  to  the  gaseous  state,  and  the  invisible 
gaseous  camphor  can  be  precipitated  as  "  a  snow "  of 
crystalline  camphor  on  a  glass  shade  placed  over  a  lump 
of  that  substance. 

There  are  some  bodies — the  metal  bismuth  is  one  of 
them,  sulphur  and  hard  paraffin  also  are  of  the  number, 
and  water  is  another — which  in  passing  from  the  liquid  to 
the  solid  state  expand — actually  increase  in  volume.  It 
is  far  more  usual,  and  seems  to  us  a  more  "  natural  "  thing, 
for  a  liquid  to  contract  when,  owing  to  cooling,  it  becomes 
solid.  The  exceptional  property  possessed  by  water  of 
expanding  when  frozen  is  of  enormous  effect  in  the  wear 
and  tear  of  the  earth's  surface.  It  is  thus  that  the  strongest 
water-pipes,  which  the  combined  wickedness  and  ignorance 
of  plumbers  and  architects  lead  them  to  place  on  the  out- 
side of  our  houses  instead  of  inside  near  the  chimneys, 


SNOW    SQUEEZED    TO    ICE  31 

are  burst  by  frost.  And  similarly  it  is  owing  to  this 
swelling  of  water  when  freezing  that  the  wet  soil  and 
surface  rocks  are,  when  frozen  in  winter,  broken  and 
rendered  permeable  to  later  rains.  But  even  more  striking 
is  the  result  of  this  bursting  action  of  freezing  water  upon 
the  great  rocky  sides  of  mountains.  The  water,  formed 
by  melting  snow  and  by  rain,  lodges  in  cracks  and  fissures 
of  the  rocks,  and,  when  the  cold  of  winter  comes  on,  it 
freezes  and  consequently  swells  in  volume,  and  so  shatters 
the  imprisoning  stone.  Thus  it  breaks  off  huge  masses 
and  helps  to  wear  away  the  mountain  peaks  and  sides.  It 
is  owing  to  the  expansion  of  water  on  becoming  solid  that 
a  given  bulk  of  ice  is  lighter  than  the  same  bulk  of  water, 
and  that  therefore  ice  floats  on  water,  and  our  streams 
and  lakes  do  not  freeze  solid  from  bottom  to  top. 

Important  and  exceptional  as  are  these  properties  of 
water — producing  great  results,  which  we  can  observe  in 
the  frozen  world  of  the  Alps — they  do  not  help  us  to  the 
understanding  of  a  glacier,  nor  would  they  suggest  to  us 
as  a  natural  process  the  production  of  glaciers  by  the 
change  of  great  heaped-up  masses  of  snow  on  mountain 
sides.  The  one  familiar  property  of  snow,  or  powdered 
ice,  which  has  to  do  with  the  conversion  of  mountain  snow 
into  the  huge  rivers  of  solid  ice  called  "  glaciers,"  is  the 
curious  "  binding "  quality  which  enables  us  to  make 
"  snowballs "  by  squeezing  handfuls  of  snow.  Every 
schoolboy  knows  that  if  one  takes  up  a  double  handful 
of  snow  during  a  hard  frost  and  lightly  presses  it,  it 
remains  a  loose  powder.  But  if  one  squeezes  the  snow 
very  firmly  and  persistently  (or  with  less  squeezing  if  a 
slight  thaw  has  set  in),  the  particles  adhere  to  one  another, 
and  the  snow  becomes  hard  and  more  or  less  compact  ice. 
Boys  consider  it  an  unfair  and  brutal  thing  to  squeeze  a 
snowball  so  much  as  to  make  it  thoroughly  solid,  since 
it  then  becomes  as  dangerous  a  missile  as  a  big  stone. 


32  GLACIERS 

A  certain  moderation  in  the  manufacture  is  held  to  be 
correct,  giving  the  snowball  a  firm  crust,  but  one  which 
can  easily  break  on  the  face  of  the  opponent  at  whom  it 
is  thrown,  thus  allowing  the  still  powdery  interior  lightly 
to  overwhelm  him. 

This  property  of  snow — viz.  that  its  particles  become, 
as  it  were,  fused  together  so  as  to  form  a  continuous 
mass  of  ice  when  it  is  squeezed  (that  is,  subjected  to 
pressure)  has  been  carefully  examined.  The  snow  par- 
ticles seem  at  first  sight  to  behave  as  though  they 
were  viscid  or  "  sticky " — in  fact,  as  powdered  wax  or 
resin  would  behave.  Yet  they  are  not  really  viscid  at  all, 
but  consist  of  loose  crystals  of  ice,  small  but  hard,  and 
with  no  tendency  to  "  flow "  or  soften.  Their  binding 
property  is  found  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  pressure  lowers 
the  degree  of  heat,  as  registered  by  a  thermometer,  at 
which  ice  melts.  The  same  lowering  of  the  melting-point 
by  pressure  has  been  observed  in  other  bodies  which 
expand  when  solidifying — for  instance,  sulphur  and 
paraffin.  In  ordinary  circumstances  ice  melts  and  becomes 
water  at  the  temperature  registered  as  32  deg.  on  the 
Fahrenheit  scale  or  zero  on  the  Centigrade  scale.  A 
pressure  equal  to  a  weight  of  2000  Ib.  on  the  square  inch 
of  surface  lowers  the  melting-point  of  ice  by  I  deg.  Centi- 
grade. A  very  much  smaller  pressure  has  its  due  propor- 
tional effect,  and  lowers  the  melting-point  a  little.  So 
that  merely  squeezing  powdered  ice  in  the  hand  or  in  a 
squeeze-mould  causes  it  to  melt  a  little — and  even  at  the 
great  degree  of  cold  (sometimes  experienced  in  the  winter 
on  the  Continent,  but  rarely  in  England)  of  18  deg.  below 
zero  Centigrade,  which  is  very  nearly  equal  to  zero 
Fahrenheit,  a  French  experimenter  has,  by  applying  to 
ice  a  pressure  (a  weight)  of  several  thousand  pounds  to 
the  square  inch,  converted  it  into  water.  It  is,  of  course, 
obvious  that  when  ice  is  caused  to  melt  ever  so  little  by 


REGELATION  33 

pressure,  the  removal  of  the  pressure  will  lead  to  the  re- 
freezing  of  the  water  produced.  Hence  we  see  that  by 
"  kneading  "  the  powder  of  ice-crystals  which  we  called 
"  snow  "  a  minute  quantity  of  water  is  first  produced  by 
the  squeezing,  and  then  immediately  is  re-frozen  when  the 
pressure  is  relaxed  by  the  "  kneading "  hand.  Con- 
sequently at  every  squeeze  a  little  air  is  driven  out  from 
the  powder,  a  little  water  takes  its  place,  and  when  the 
squeeze  is  relaxed  this  becomes  solid,  and  cements 
neighbouring  crystals  together,  until,  by  repeated  squeez- 
ing and  relaxing,  the  whole  lot  of  crystals  may  be  joined 
together  into  a  solid  mass  by  the  re-freezing  of  the  water 
formed  by  the  slight  amount  of  melting.  The  ice  so 
formed  encloses  a  great  many  tiny,  almost  invisible 
bubbles  of  air.  The  process  of  melting  by  pressure  and 
re-freezing  when  the  pressure  is  'removed  is  called 
"  regelation."  A  glacier  is  nothing  but  a  huge  snowball 
formed  by  regelation.  The  warmth  of  the  sun  causes  the 
surface  layer  of  snow  to  melt  a  little;  the  water  so  formed 
percolates  into  the  deeper  layers  where  the  heat  of  the 
sun  does  not  penetrate.  It  freezes  again,  and  the  solid 
mass  lying  on  a  steep  slope  begins  to  press  and  move 
downwards.  It  breaks  and  falls,  and  "regelates"  with 
neighbouring  similar  masses  owing  to  their  mutual  pres- 
sure. Always  the  slowly,  or  maybe  quickly,  sliding 
masses  adhere  by  regelation,  and  add  to  their  solid  bulk 
by  this  kind  of  adhesion  just  as  the  much  smaller  rolling 
snowball  made  by  boys  in  the  winter  binds  to  it  the  snow 
over  which  it  is  turned,  and  increases  its  solidity  and  bulk 
at  a  rate  which  has  become  proverbial. 

Snow  which  falls  when  the  air  is  at  a  temperature 
below  freezing  has  the  form  of  six-rayed  stars  or  crystals, 
of  great  beauty  and  variety.  In  the  highest  Alpine 
regions  the  fallen  snow  gradually  loses  its  crystalline 

3 


34 


GLACIERS 


form,  and  becomes  granular  or  powdery.  It  is  known  as 
the  "neve,"  or  "  firn."  Occasionally  it  is  coloured  red  by 
a  microscopic  plant  called  Sphcerella  nivalis,  and  when  it 
melts  a  certain  kind  of  wheel  animalcule  often  inhabits  the 
small  pools  so  formed  both  in  the  Alps  and  on  the  Arctic 
and  Antarctic  snows.  Generally  the  neve  remains  firm 
and  hard  ;  the  foot  sinks  but  little  into  it.  The  water 
which  results  from  its  melting  sinks  through  it  and 
freezes  with  the  snow  below  into  a  solid  layer.  Each 
year's  deposit  forms  a  layer  from  I  ft.  to  3  ft.  in  thickness, 
and  is  covered  up  to  a  great  depth  by  the  next  year's 
snow,  which  again  during  the  warmer  weather  contributes 
its  frozen  layer.  Thus  below  the  surface  the  neve  has  a 
banded  or  stratified  structure,  and  when  it  has  passed  in 
the  course  of  years  far  from  the  place  of  its  original 
formation  down  the  rocky  bed  of  the  creeping  glacier,  you 
may  still  observe  this  laminated  or  stratified  structure  of 
annual  layers.  The  neve  is  often  of  very  great  depth  or 
thickness.  At  the  top  or  "  source "  of  many  Alpine 
glaciers  it  is  as  much  as  loooft.  thick.  Avalanches  are 
falls  of  the  imperfectly  consolidated  snow  on  slopes  too 
steep  to  permit  more  than  a  small  thickness  of  the 
powdery  material  to  lie  at  rest.  An  immense  quantity  of 
snow  is  thus  regularly  brought  down  by  avalanches  to  the 
lower  regions,  and  is  melted  every  spring,  when  there  is  a 
loosening  of  frozen  bonds  by  the  daily  sunshine.  The 
deeper  layers  of  the  neve  are  under  vast  pressure  from  the 
overlying  layers,  and  become  crushed  and  regelated  into 
solid  ice.  They  slowly  slide  as  a  continuous  layer  of 
great  thickness  down  the  slopes  on  which  they  have 
accumulated,  and  as  they  advance  the  powdery  snow  on 
the  surface  both  evaporates  and  melts  until  the  deeper- 
lying  ice  is  bare  and  shows  on  the  actual  surface.  The 
neve*  now  ceases  to  exist  as  such ;  it  has  become  a 
glacier,  a  slowly-moving  river  of  solid  ice.  It  is  this 


MOVEMENT    OF    GLACIERS  35 

incredible  moving  thing  which  no  one  would  ever  have 
foreseen  as  the  product  of  a  heap  of  snow,  no  matter  how 
vast  or  where  accumulated.  As  it  moves  downwards  the 
mass  is  subjected  to  immense  pressure,  both  from  its  own 
weight  resting  on  the  rocks,  and  from  lateral  pressure  or 
squeezing  from  the  sides  of  the  bed  or  hollow,  which  hold 
it  as  a  river  of  water  is  held  by  its  banks.  The  con- 
tinuous and  varied  pressure  and  pull,  tear,  and  squeeze  of 
the  huge  mass,  in  its  irregular  bed,  alter  a  great  deal  the 
character  of  the  ice  as  it  advances. 

Glaciers  differ  in  length  according  to  the  amount  of 
snow  which  is  annually  furnished  by  the  high  collecting 
ground  of  the  neve,  and  also  according  to  the  steepness  of 
the  bed  along  which  they  travel,  as  well  as  to  some  extent 
in  relation  to  the  greater  or  less  heat  of  the  valleys  into 
which  they  descend.  The  fact  that  the  ice  which  is  melting 
away  at  the  snout,  or  lower  end,  of  a  glacier  has  gradually 
descended  from  above,  has  been  long  known  by  the 
mountain  folk,  but  it  was  only  in  the  last  century  that 
the  rate  of  descent  was  measured.  It  varies  from  150  ft. 
to  1000  ft.  a  year  ;  it  varies  in  different  parts  of  the  same 
glacier,  and  at  different  seasons  of  the  year,  and  in  different 
years.  In  the  summer  an  average  sample  of  a  glacier 
will  advance  a  foot  and  a  half  a  day  in  the  middle,  and  a 
foot  or  less  at  the  sides.  It  has  been  calculated  that  a 
particle  of  ice  would  take  about  500  years  to  descend  from 
the  summit  of  the  most  beautiful  of  all  the  great  Swiss 
mountains — the  Jungfrau — to  the  end  of  her  greatest 
glacier,  that  called  the  great  Aletsch,  which  expands  its 
melting  "  snout  "  below  the  Bel  Alp  over  the  Rhone  valley. 

The  Swiss  glaciers  had  been,  on  the  whole,  increas- 
ing in  size  for  some  500  years  until  1820,  when  they 
retreated  until  1840,  and  again  advanced  until  1860. 
Since  then  they  have  greatly  diminished,  though  some  are 
now  advancing  again.  Many  are  the  lamentations  of  old 


36  GLACIERS 

lovers  of  the  Swiss  mountain  valleys  over  the  shrinking 
of  the  Mer  de  Glace  of  Chamonix,  the  Aar  Glacier  of 
Rosenlaui,  and  the  Rhone  Glacier.  But  they  will  extend 
again  some  day.  The  Yengutsa  Glacier  in  the  Himalayas 
has  increased  two  miles  in  length  since  1892.  Another 
Himalayan  glacier  (that  of  Hassanabad)  had  slowly  shrunk 
back  during  a  long  period  until  seven  years  ago  it  was  six 
miles  shorter  than  it  had  been  fifty  years  before  ;  then 
suddenly  it  advanced  over  the  lost  ground  and  actually 
grew  six  miles — pushed  its  snout  forward  six  miles,  back 
to  its  old  position — in  three  months ! 

The  great  extension  at  a  remote  prehistoric  period  of 
the  Swiss  glaciers,  and  the  general  existence  in  past  ages 
of  glaciers  and  an  ice-covering  of  the  land  in  Central  and 
Northern  Europe,  are  proved  by  the  following  four  pi( 
of  evidence :  First,  the  existence  of  "  moraines,"  tho< 
huge  embankment-like  piles  of  broken  rocks,  many  evei 
hundreds  of  miles  distant  from  the  existing  glaciers,  oftei 
in  positions  which  it  is  clear  from  the  "  lie  of  the  land 
the  present  glaciers  would  have  reached  if  they  had  beei 
enormously  increased  in  size  ;  second,  the  existence  ol 
detached  rocks,  called  "  erratic  blocks,"  which  are  fouiK 
perched  on  the  surface  of  the  ground  at  a  vast  distance 
from  the  mountains  from  which  their  mineral  structure 
shows  them  to  have  been  carried  ;  third,  the  occurrence  oi 
rock  surfaces  far  from  existing  glaciers,  which  nevertheless 
show  the  peculiar  polishing  and  scratching  which  is  mad( 
only  by  glaciers  ;  fourth,  the  existence  in  more  southeri 
regions  of  the  remains  of  plants  and  animals  of  kind; 
belonging  to  a  cold  climate,  and  now  only  found  in  th( 
far  north,  as  well  as  the  existence  of  Alpine  plants  ii 
regions  now  separated  from  the  cold  upper  parts  of  Swit- 
zerland (where  they  flourish)  by  vast  expanses  of  wan 
country,  over  which  they  could  not  spread  in  the  presenl 
condition  of  the  climate. 


VAST    SIZE    OF    ANCIENT    GLACIERS        37 

The    two   great   glaciers — that   of    the    Rhone    valley 
and  that  of  the  Rhine  valley — have  been  carefully  traced, 
and    their    length    and    breadth    and    depth    ascertained. 
The   glaciers   which  now   seem  to   us    so  enormous    and 
powerful,    as    they    push    their    snouts    into    the   end    of 
the    Rhone    valley   and    the    side   valleys   of  the   canton 
of  the  Valais — the  great  trough  which  runs  for  a  hundred 
and  twenty  miles  from  near  the  Furca   Pass  to  the  Lake 
of  Geneva — are  but  the  surviving  roots  of  the  immense 
Rhone  glacier  which  filled  the  whole  of  the  valley  and  the 
Lake  of  Geneva  itself,  and  flowed  on  as  far  as,  and   even 
beyond,   Lyons  !      The   Rhone   glacier,  the  great  Aletsch, 
the  Gorner,  and  very  many  others  extended  along  their 
present  course,    met,    and    formed    one    huge    advancing 
stream  of  ice  !      The  great  glacier  of  the  Rhine  extended 
from    the  Swiss  Alps  northwards  as  far  as  Coblenz,  on 
the   Rhine  ;    others  at   the   same  time  spread   down   the 
southern  slopes  of  the  Alps  into  Lombardy.      We  find  the 
moraines  of  the  vast  Rhone  glacier  at  various  parts  of  its 
course,  these  vast  heaps   of  rock   fragments   having  been 
piled  up  and  left  by  the  glacier,  some  when  it  was  at  its 
fullest  extension,    some  as  it  shrank  towards  its  present 
pygmy  dimensions.      The  high,  long  terrace  of  St.   Paul, 
which  one  sees  more  than  a  thousand  feet  above  the  Lake 
of  Geneva,  at  Evian,  is  a  moraine,  and  all  over  Switzerland, 
in  the   lower  valleys,  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles  away  from 
existing   glaciers,  you    come    upon    these    strange,    long, 
straight  hills,  resembling  enormous  railway  embankments, 
just  as  the  moraines  at  the  sides  of  the   existing  glaciers 
resemble  ordinary  railway  embankments.      We  can  ascer- 
tain the  height  to   which   the  old   huge  glaciers  filled  the 
present   valleys   by  the   polishing   and    scratching   of  the 
rocks    as    well    as     by    the    remains    of    moraines.       At 
Martigny,  where  the  Rhone  valley  takes  a  sharp  turn,  the 
glacier  filled  it  to  a  height  of  5000  ft.    above  the  present 


38  GLACIERS 

river  !  At  Geneva  it  stood  as  a  solid,  continuous  sheet 
more  than  3000  ft.  over  the  level  of  the  present  city  and 
lake  ;  and  it  spread  out  as  an  immense  covering  of  solid 
ice  right  away  to  the  Jura  Mountains  beyond  Neuchatel 
and  its  lake,  its  surface  there  being  3000  ft.  above  the 
present  level  of  the  lake !  A  vast  sea  of  ice  in  fact 
covered  the  whole  country,  with  the  exception  of  the  high 
mountain-tops,  from  Lyons  to  Basle  and  along  the  Rhine- 
land  to  Coblenz  in  one  direction,  and  across  Bavaria  to 
beyond  Munich  and  Salzburg  !  Whilst  this  was  the  con- 
dition of  Switzerland  more  northern  regions  were  also 
completely  involved  in  an  ice-covering.  Glaciers  existed 
in  Wales  and  Scotland,  as  proved  by  the  moraines  still 
left  there,  the  erratic  blocks,  and  the  ice-polished  and 
scratched  rocks  of  the  mountain  valleys.  The  whole 
Scandinavian  peninsula  was  overwhelmed  by  a  vast 
glacier.  The  ice  from  the  Norwegian  glaciers  extended  to 
our  Eastern  shores,  and  immense  deposits  of  irregular  ice- 
borne  fragments  were  accumulated  there,  and  again  and 
again  torn  up  and  redeposited  by  the  water  and  by  float- 
ing ice  (the  "  drift "  and  the  "  boulder  clay "  of  East 
Anglia).  The  whole  of  the  northern  half  of  the  temperate 
zone  was  thus  glaciated  or  ice-ridden.  This  astounding 
and  terrible  state  of  things  is  what  is  referred  to  as  "  the 
glacial  period." 

The  inquiry  as  to  what  were  the  causes  of  this  extremely 
different  condition  of  regions  of  the  earth,  now  so  fertile 
and  richly  inhabited,  is  a  pressing  one.  We  must  be 
anxious  to  know  how  it  came  about  and  whether  it  is 
likely  to  come  again.  One  result  of  the  great  amount  of 
study  given  to  the  subject  during  late  years  is  the  discovery 
that  there  has  not  been  one  glacial  period  but  at  least 
four,  separated  from  one  another  by  long  warm  periods 
in  which  the  ice  retreated  to  something  like  its  present 
limitations  and  then  again  overwhelmed  the  land.  And 


DISTINCT    GLACIAL    PERIODS  39 

the  curious  thing  is  that  three  of  these  have  all  occurred  in 
the  quite  late  geological  period  which  we  call  "Pleistocene," 
since  (as  an  instance  which  will  have  some  familiarity  for 
English   readers)   the   accumulation   of  the  shelly  marine 
deposits  in  the  southern  area  of  the  North  Sea  which  we 
call  the  Red  Crag  and  Coralline  Crag  of  Suffolk,  and  the 
Yellow  and  Black  Crag  of  Antwerp.      One  glacial  period 
immediately    preceded    the    Red    Crag.       These   deposits 
(called  "  Pliocene  ")  are  not  very  old  or  deep  in  a  diagram 
representing   the  thickness   of  the   various   strata   of  the 
earth's  crust.     They  have  only  some  200  ft.  above  them, 
whilst  below  them  there  are  (before  we  come  to  the  chalk, 
a  great  landmark  in  the  geology  of  this  part  of  the  world) 
2400  ft.  of  the  sands  and  clays  which  are  called   Miocene 
and  Eocene !     Passing  on  downwards  from  the  uppermost 
"  chalk  "  to  the  Silurian  strata  (without  going  any  further 
down),  there  are  29,000  ft.  of  deposit !      So  we  see  that 
the  three  or  more  glacial  periods   and   interludes   of  the 
Pleistocene  period  corresponds  to  a  very  brief  chapter  of 
geological  history,  and  that  the  latest.      In  fact,  we  know 
that  man  chipped  his  flint  implements  and  dwelt  in  caves 
in   Europe  before  the   greatest   of   these   glacial    periods. 
When  we  examine  the  deposits  of  the  periods  preceding 
the  latest  Pliocene,  and  the  fossilised  remains  of  plants  and 
animals  contained  in  them,  it  is  the  fact  that  we  get  no 
indication  of  other  and  earlier  "  glacial  periods  "  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  until  we  get  into  a  very  remote  period 
before  that  of  the  chalk  and  the  oolites.     The  "  breccias," 
or  deposits,  of  large  angular  rock  fragments  of  the  new  red 
sandstone  or   "  Triassic "   period   bear  indications,  in  the 
form  of  scratches  and  polishing  of  the  stones,  of  the  action 
of  glacier  ice.      But  the  negative  evidence  is  not  conclu- 
sive, and  it  may  well  be  that  glacial  periods  earlier  than 
those  of  the  latest  epoch  (the  Pleistocene)  have  come  and 
gone,  but  left  no  evidence  of  their  occurrence  in  the  much 


4o 


GLACIERS 


altered  and  scattered  deposits  which  form  the  rocks  of  the 
earth's  crust. 

The  most  striking  fact  which  the  investigation  of  this 
subject  has  brought  into  prominence  is  this  :  The  exten- 
sion of  the  glaciers  even  to  the  limit  which  was  reached  in 
the  last  great  glacial  period  of  prehistoric  times  does  not 
imply  any  very  extreme  climate.  That  is  to  say,  a  small 
change  in  our  present  climate  would  bring  back  the  exten- 
sion of  glaciers,  and  give  us  another  glacial  period.  Glaciers 
require  heat  as  well  as  cold — heat  to  raise  the  vapour  from 
adjacent  regions,  which  is  then  condensed  as  snow  on  the 
higher  and  colder  territory.  The  presence  of  an  excess  of 
aqueous  vapour  in  the  atmosphere,  even  without  the  forma- 
tion of  cloud,  has  a  very  large  and  important  result  in 
stopping  the  access  of  heat  from  the  sun  to  the  region  of 
the  earth  protected  by  the  moist  atmosphere.  An  increase 
of  watery  vapour  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere would  materially  lower  its  temperature.  A  succes- 
sion of  damp  summers  would  do  more  to  enlarge  the 
glaciers  than  a  series  of  severe  winters.  It  is  estimated  by 
competent  authorities  that  a  fall  in  the  average  annual 
temperature  of  only  10°  F.  (provided  that  the  summers 
were  cold  and  damp)  would  suffice  in  a  few  decades  to 
bring  about  the  return  of  glacial  conditions  in  the 
temperate  region  of  the  northern  hemisphere.  The 
present  snow-line,  or  level  of  perpetual  snow,  is,  in  this 
part  of  the  world,  at  the  height  of  9000  ft.  above  sea- 
level.  As  we  ascend  from  the  sea-level  the  temperature 
decreases  by  about  i°  F.  for  every  350  ft.  we  mount.-  A 
fall  of  10°  in  temperature  would  accordingly  bring  the 
snow-line  down  by  3500  ft. — that  is,  to  5500  ft.  above  sea- 
level — and  the  lower  limit  to  which  the  glaciers  reach, 
which  is  now  about  4000  ft.  above  sea-level,  would 
descend  to  1200  ft.,  which  is  lower  than  the  level  of 
Geneva.  Changes  in  the  outline  of  the  continents  and  in 


CAUSES    OF    GLACIAL    PERIODS  41 

the  direction  of  the  great  warm  currents  of  the  ocean, 
together  with  changes  in  the  growth  of  forest  and  the 
extent  of  desert  land  on  the  continents,  might,  by  affecting 
the  habitual  disposition  of  cloud  and  of  vapour,  go  far  to 
reduce  the  average  annual  temperature  of  north  temperate 
regions  by  10°. 

It  has,  on  the  other  hand,  been  held  that  the  periodic 
and  regular  "  wobbling  "  of  the  earth  as  it  spins  on  its 
axis  is  largely  accountable  for  the  fall  of  temperature 
in  the  temperate  zone  at  regularly  recurring  intervals. 
The  axis  of  rotation  of  the  earth  moves  round  in  a  circle, 
as  one  may  see  the  stem  of  a  well-spun  top  slowly 
move  in  a  circle  whilst  the  top  "  sleeps."  The  earth  takes 
about  26,000  years  to  complete  its  wobble,  and  in  that 
cycle  there  is  a  period  when  there  is  least  and  a  period 
when  there  is  most  sunshine  falling  on  the  polar  regions — 
owing  to  the  difference  in  the  inclination  of  the  pole  to  the 
sun.  It  is  held  that  this  difference  is  enough  to  produce 
the  fall  of  i  o°  F.  required  to  give  us  a  "  glacial  period  "  in 
this  part  of  the  world.  At  any  rate,  in  combination  with 
the  changes  conducing  to  formation  of  vapour  and  cloud 
which  I  have  mentioned  above,  it  would  probably  be 
effective. 

Geologists  are  not  agreed  on  this  subject,  but  they  have 
established,  as  I  have  stated  above — by  definite  proof— the 
recurrence  of  glacial  periods  separated  by  long  intervals  of 
warmer  climate  during  the  latest  period  of  geological 
time,  the  Pleistocene.  The  most  convincing  proof  of  the 
occurrence  of  three  periods  of  great  extension  of  European 
glaciers  with  intervals  of  a  milder  climate  has  been 
obtained  by  studying  the  ancient  moraines.  The  great 
mass  of  heaped-up  rock  fragments  left  as  a  moraine  by  a 
once  extended  glacier  which  has  dwindled  and  retreated, 
becomes  altered  on  its  surface  in  the  course  of  a  few 
thousand  years  by  change  and  decomposition  of  the  rock 


42  GLACIERS 

fragments.  A  special  surface-layer  is  produced.  Now 
when  the  glacier  again,  after  some  thousands  of  years, 
extends  and  deposits  a  new  moraine  over  the  old  one,  and 
again  retreats,  it  is  found  to  be  possible  to  distinguish  the 
later  from  the  earlier  moraine  by  the  "  special  surface- 
layer  "  of  the  old  moraine,  which  marks  it  off  from  the 
new  material  piled  over  it.  Thus  three  extensions  have 
been  traced  in  Bavaria,  and  in  other  regions  within  the 
area  of  the  great  Swiss  glaciers  of  the  glacial  period. 
These  "  extensions  "  and  "  retreats  "  are  not  small  variations 
of  two  or  three  miles,  such  as  we  see  occurring  in  Switzer- 
land under  our  eyes  within  recent  years.  They  refer  to 
differences  of  hundreds  of  miles  in  length,  and  to  incalculable 
differences  in  the  volume  of  solid  ice  concerned,  due  to  periods 
of  long-continued  climatic  differences  separated  by  many 
thousand  years.  It  is  not  possible  to  induce  any  cautious 
geologist  to  state  how  many  thousand  years  separate  us 
from  the  last  great  glacial  extension,  nor  how  many 
thousands  of  years  separated  it  and  those  which  occurred 
earlier  in  the  Pleistocene  epoch  and  at  the  end  of  the 
Pliocene  from  one  another.  If  the  astronomical  cause 
were  really  the  determining  one,  we  might  conclude  that 
intervals  of  about  26,000  years  were  what  occurred 
between  the  full  severity  of  each  glacial  period.  But  on 
other  grounds  such  intervals  are  considered  to  be  too  short, 
and  doubt  and  speculation  surround  the  attempt  to  put  the 
period  into  figures  of  so  many  thousand  years.  For 
instance,  if  26,000  years  is  all  that  should  separate  a 
future  glacial  period  from  the  last  (which  seems  to  have 
been  the  greatest  and  most  severe),  we  do  not  get  enough 
time  (even  supposing  that  we  are  within  a  couple  of 
thousand  years  of  another  glacial  period)  to  account  for 
all  the  changes  in  the  surface  of  Western  Europe,  and  in 
the  animals  and  men  upon  it.  The  Neandermen,  the 
mammoth,  the  hyaena,  the  lion,  the  rhinoceros,  bison,  and 


DATE    OF    LAST    GLACIAL    EXTENSION     43 

other  large  game  swarmed  here  then,  and  there  was  no 
"  channel  "  separating  England  from  the  Continent.  We 
know  a  long  succession  of  events  which  have  occurred 
since  then — the  arrival  of  the  Reindeer-men,  their  dis- 
appearance, and  the  conversion  of  Europe  into  a  pastoral 
and  agricultural  land  by  the  men  of  the  polished  stone 
weapons,  the  arrival  of  the  later  bronze-using  men,  and 
later  still  the  introduction  of  iron.  Most  "  prehistorians  " 
consider  that  much  more  than  twenty  thousand  years  has 
elapsed  since  the  last  great  glacial  period  covered  North 
and  Central  Europe  with  ice.  Professor  Penck,  a  very  high 
authority,  estimates  four  hundred  thousand  years  as  having 
passed  since  the  first  glacial  extension  of  Pleistocene  times. 
But  it  is  not. possible  in  the  present  state  of  knowledge  to 
hold  with  conviction  to  any  exact  estimate,  nor  to  be  quite 
sure  that  another  glacial  period  is  not  already  due ! 

The  ice  which  forms  by  freezing  on  a  lake  or  pond 
differs  a  good  deal  in  appearance  and  structure  from 
glacier  ice.  If  a  piece  of  lake  or  pond  ice  is  melted  in 
warm  air,  the  surface  gradually  liquefies,  and  the  whole 
remains  clear.  But  if  a  piece  of  dense  glacier  ice  from  the 
deeper  part  of  a  glacier  (such  as  you  may  get  from  one  of 
the  "  ice-caves,"  often  cut  for  show  at  the  snout  of  a 
glacier)  is  similarly  melted,  very  fine  cracks  appear  in  it, 
and  gradually  the  lump  breaks  up  into  irregular  crystalline 
pieces.  They  are  called  "  glacier  grains,"  and  are  usually 
about  the  size  of  a  walnut,  but  may  be  smaller  or  bigger. 
They  are  separate  groups  of  ice  crystals,  and  the  glacier 
ice  is  made  up  of  these  innumerable  units  tightly  wedged 
and  fused  together.  Their  origin  is  not  properly  under- 
stood, but  it  appears  (see  p.  26)  that  the  water  which  per- 
colates the  freshly  formed  neve,  and  freezes  so  as  to  solidify 
the  mass,  has  more  mineral  matter  in  solution  than  have 
the  snow  crystals  themselves,  and  melts  more  easily  (at  a 
lower  temperature).  Hence  the  sun's  rays  liquefy  this 


44  GLACIERS 

cementing  ice,  and  leave  the  purer  crystals  as  knob-like 
glacier  grains.  I  have  already  mentioned  the  stratified 
structure  to  be  seen  in  the  newer  ice  of  a  glacier,  but  there 
are  also  the  dirt  bands  which  form  by  the  collection  of 
rock  debris  in  transverse  fissures  of  the  glacier,  and  are 
carried  on  and  spread  out  as  curved  bands  crossing  the 
glacier  from  side  to  side  when  it  has  flowed  some  miles 
on  its  course  and  expanded  in  a  broadened  bed. 


A  great  deal  of  attention  has  been  given  to  the  question, 
"  Why  do  glaciers  descend  ?  "  Though  ice  is  not  a  viscous 
body,  it  yet  has  some  of  the  properties  of  one  when  it 
presents  itself  in  huge  masses,  such  as  are  glaciers.  It 
can  bend  and  spread  and  alter  its  shape  in  response  to 
pressure;  it  splits  and  reunites  its  broken  surfaces  owing  to 
the  property  of  "  regelation  "  which  I  described  above.  In 
a  warm  atmosphere  a  cube  of  pitch,  or  of  sealing-wax,  or 
wax,  as  big  as  a  quartern  loaf,  though  solid  and  apparently 
keeping  its  shape,  will,  if  placed  on  a  sloping  board,  very 
slowly  commence  to  flow  down  the  slope,  the  process 
being  so  slow  that  it  takes  hours,  or  even  days,  to  give 
any  observable  result.  In  virtue  of  its  "  sham  "  viscosity 
—its  power  of  cracking  and  healing  incessantly  by  rege- 
lation— a  sufficiently  large  and  weighty  mass  of  ice 
behaves  in  the  same  way.  But  it  appears  that  the  size  of 
the  mass  is  a  very  important  condition.  You  can  make 
a  small  upright  figure,  say  four  inches  high,  in  soft 
wax,  which  will  hold  together  and  keep  its  form,  but  if 
you  make  a  similarly  shaped  figure  of  the  same  material, 
ten  feet  high,  it  will  bend  and  bulge  and  droop  as  a 
paraffin  candle  does  in  hot  weather.  The  same  import- 
ance attaches  to  actual  bulk,  height,  or  depth  of  the  mass 
in  regard  to  the  flow  of  glacier  ice,  though  it  seems  that 
the  conditions  of  its  flow  or  movement  are  not  even  yet 
thoroughly  understood.  Professor  Heim  holds  that  the 


THE    FLOW    OF    GLACIERS  45 

weight  of  the  ice  is  sufficient  to  account  for  its  movement, 
and  that  a  mass  of  lead  corresponding  to  a  glacier  would 
in  the  same  position  move  much  as  it  does.  The  close 
fitting  of  the  glacier  to  its  bed,  the  fusion  of  tributary 
glaciers  with  a  larger  one,  and  the  more  rapid  movement 
of  the  middle  part  of  a  glacier  than  of  its  sides  (which  are 
arrested  and  slowed  down  as  is  the  water  of  a  river  by 
friction  with  the  rocky  sides  of  its  bed)  are  due  to  the 
continual  cracking  and  breaking  with  constant  regelation 
of  the  ice  at  all  points  where  it  is  strained  or  subject  to 
tension.  Regelation  gives  it,  in  the  gross,  the  properties 
of  a  viscous  body,  such  as  pitch  or  soft  sealing  wax— 
although  ice  is  certainly,  when  small  bits  or  crystals  of  it 
are  examined,  or  even  when  we  deal  with  a  block  of  it 
weighing  a  ton — not  a  viscous  body  capable  of  being 
extended,  that  is,  elongated  or  widened  in  shape,  by 
pulling.  It  is  not  capable  of  being  drawn  out  into  strings 
or  threads  as  are  viscous  bodies  like  pitch,  sealing-wax 
and  thick  treacle  !  Under  pressure,  however,  it  does  behave 
like  a  viscous  body,  and  fragments  or  powder  of  ice  can 
be  squeezed  in  a  mould  into  a  solid  coherent  mass  (as  one 
can  squeeze  and  fuse  powdered  wax  or  amber  when  warm), 
owing  to  its  property  of  "  regelation,"  that  is  to  say,  of 
partial  thawing  under  pressure  and  immediate  re-freezing 
when  the  pressure  is  relaxed. 

The  thick,  sticky  "  flows  "  or  slowly  moving  streams  of 
mud  or  watery  clay,  which  one  may  see  at  the  base  of 
sea-side  cliffs  in  many  places,  for  instance,  the  Isle  of 
Wight,  are  in  important  respects  like  small  models 
of  glaciers.  One  sees  in  them  clearly  enough  that  the 
middle  part  flows  more  quickly  than  the  sides,  and 
one  sees  the  formation  of  crevasses  by  the  "  tearing " 
of  the  unequally  moving  mass.  And  the  formation 
of  what  is  called  the  veined  structure  of  a  glacier 
and  of  dirt  bands  on  its  surface  are  illustrated  by  similar 


46  GLACIERS 

appearances  caused  by  the  cracking  and  squeezing  of  the 
mud  flow. 

The  squeezing  to  which  glaciers  are  subject  in  their 
downward  movement  is  often  gigantic  in  amount.  Glaciers 
from  neighbouring  rock  valleys  unite  and  form  one  slowly 
flowing  river  of  ice  without  the  breadth  of  the  channel 
being  proportionately  increased.  The  glaciers  which  unite 
to  form  the  great  Gorner  glacier  above  Zermatt  have  a 
width  often  miles,  and  soon  after  they  have  joined  together 
the  width  is  reduced  to  two  miles,  and  farther  on  to  one  mile. 
The  depth  of  the  glacier  is,  of  course,  increased  when  its 
width  is  diminished.  Swiss  glaciers  have  been  bored  to  a 
depth  of  800  feet  without  reaching  the  bottom,  and,  small 
as  they  are  compared  with  the  great  glaciers  of  the  glacial 
age,  it  is  calculated  that  they  attain  in  places  to  a  depth 
of  2000  feet.  There  is  enough  solid  ice  in  the  great 
Gorner  glacier  to  build  three  cities  the  size  of  London  ! 
There  are  about  1500  glaciers  in  Switzerland,  some  of 
which,  of  course,  unite  with  one  another  as  they  descend, 
and  the  total  area  they  cover  is  over  1000  square  miles, 
with  an  average  thickness  difficult  to  estimate,  but  pro- 
bably not  over-estimated  at  250  feet. 

The  colour  of  ice,  like  that  of  water,  is  blue,  and  of 
course  the  colour  is  deep  and  intense  in  proportion  to  the 
thickness  of  clear  ice  or  water  through  which  the  light 
passes.  There  is  a  great  deal  of  persistent  error  about  the 
blue  colour  of  water.  A  good  many  people  insist  that  it 
is  due  to  the  reflected  blue  colour  of  the  sky.  It  is  easy 
to  prove  that  this  is  not  so  since  the  clear  water  of  seas 
and  lakes  is  seen  to  be  blue  when  the  sky  is  completely 
overcast.  When  the  water  is  not  very  deep  and  the 
bottom  is  white,  the  colour  is  a  very  fine  turquoise  blue. 
But  if  the  water  is  of  such  great  depth  that  no  light  is 
reflected  up  from  the  bottom  through  the  water,  then  the 
colour  is  a  deep  indigo.  If  the  water  has  any  yellow  stain 


THE    COLOUR    OF    ICE  47 

in  it,  from  dead  or  living  vegetable  matter  or  from  iron 
salts,  the  colour  is  green.  There  are  two  readily  available 
exhibitions  of  the  blue  colour  of  water  with  which  anyone 
may  satisfy  himself  on  the  subject.  The  first  is  that  of 
the  tanks  of  some  of  the  water-supplying  companies,  such 
as  those  to  be  seen  from  the  railway  near  Caterham. 
These  tanks  are  cube-like  reservoirs,  twenty  feet  deep. 
They  are  used  to  soften  the  water  by  precipitating  the 
chalk  dissolved  in  it,  and  the  deposit  of  white  chalk  lines 
the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  tanks  whilst  the  water  itself 
becomes  of  crystalline  purity.  Even  on  the  most  cloudy 
days  these  tanks  stand  out  in  the  scene  as  patches  of 
brilliant  cobalt  blue.  A  simpler  case  is  that  of  the  large 
brilliantly  white  porcelain  baths  now  provided  in  bath- 
rooms. If  the  room  is  well  lit  from  above  by  strong  sun- 
light, and  has  a  white  wall,  and  the  bath  is  well  filled  with 
good  clear  water,  the  latter  appears  strongly  blue,  any 
wave  or  rippling  of  the  surface  appearing  as  bands  of 
bright  blue.  In  this  case  the  light  is  reflected  to  and  fro 
by  the  sides  of  the  bath,  and  an  effect  like  that  of  the  blue 
grotto  of  Capri  is  obtained.  If  the  water  should  appear 
at  all  green,  it  is  due  to  yellow-coloured  impurity  in  the 
water,  or  in  the  porcelain,  or  in  the  colouring  of  the  sides 
of  the  room. 

Liquid  oxygen  (prepared  by  modern  methods  of  pro- 
ducing extreme  cold)  is  also  blue.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  solid  water,  which  is  what  we  look  into  in  the  great 
chasms  in  the  clear  ice  of  glaciers,  should  show  this  colour. 
Glaciers  often,  however,  appear  bluish-green,  especially  near 
the  surface,  or  when  seen  indistinctly  at  a  distance.  This 
is  due  to  fine  dust  from  the  atmosphere,  which  falls  con- 
tinually on  the  mountain  snow,  and  contains  iron,  which 
forms  yellow-coloured  rust  in  minute  quantity.  Some  of 
the  dust  which  falls  on  the  snow  of  mountains  and  on 
the  ocean  (sinking  there  to  the  bottom)  is  of  terrestrial 


48  GLACIERS 

origin,  brought  by  the  wind  from  great  distances  ;  but  a 
great  deal  of  it  is  dust  (consisting  of  iron  and  other 
elements),  which  falls  on  the  earth  from  interstellar  space, 
and  is  called  "  meteoric  dust."  The  particles  are,  in  fact, 
minute  "  meteoric  stones,"  or  "  falling  stars,"  but  so  small 
and  light  that  they  do  not  become  vapourised,  or  even 
red-hot,  by  friction  with  our  atmosphere.  They  have  been 
recognised  in  great  quantity  in  the  deposits  on  the  floor  of 
the  great  oceans,  as  well  as  on  mountain  snowfields,  and  it 
is  estimated  that  a  large  number  of  tons  of  this  "  meteoric  " 
material  falls  every  year  on  to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  which 
must  grow  heavier  in  consequence. 

The  water  which  is  formed  by  the  melting  in  summer 
of  the  surface  of  a  glacier  above,  and  at  the  sides  and 
below,  forms  a  stream,  which  runs  beneath  the  glacier  and 
issues  below  the  "  snout."  The  snout  frequently  has  the 
shape  of  an  arch  overhanging  a  cave,  from  which  the  stream 
issues.  The  water  which  forms  by  the  melting  of  the 
upper  surface  of  the  glacier  forms  streams,  which  often 
grow  to  some  size  before  they  plunge  into  a  crack  or 
fissure  in  the  ice,  and  find  their  way  to  the  rocky  bed 
below.  They  often  wear  the  ice  into  a  well-like  shaft, 
some  hundreds  of  feet  deep,  and  carry  stones  down  with 
them  from  the  surface,  which,  lying  on  the  rock  at  the 
bottom,  are  violently  rocked  and  driven  about  by  the 
falling  water.  Remarkable  basin-like  holes  are  thus  worn 
out  in  the  rock-bed  of  the  glacier,  which  sometimes 
come  into  view  when  the  glacier  recedes,  and  exposes 
the  rock  which  it  formerly  covered,  as  in  the  "  Glacier 
Garden  "  at  Lucerne.  They  are  called  "  giants'  cauldrons," 
and  the  ice-well  into  which  the  surface-water  rushes  is 
called  a  "  moulin,"  or  glacier  mill. 

By  the  retreat  of  a  glacier  we  are  able  to  see  other  results 
of  its  slow  passage  over  the  rocks,  as,  for  instance,  now  at 
the  lower  end  of  the  Mer  de  Glace  of  Chamonix.  The 


ICE    SCRATCHING    AND    ICE    POLISHING     49 

rock  is  smoothed  and  polished,  and  the  projecting  harder 
parts  are  not  sharp  and  angular,  but  have  the  form  of 
rounded  humps,  compared  to  a  sheep's  back,  and  hence 
called  "  roches  vioutonneesr  When  we  come  within  three 
or  four  feet  of  such  rocks  we  see  that  they  are  marked  in  a 
peculiar  way  by  straight  scratches  of  all  lengths  from  half 
an  inch  upwards,  and  crossing  one  another  at  various  angles, 
though  one  direction — that  parallel  to  the  valley — predomi- 
nates. These  scratches  are  caused  by  bits  of  harder  stone 
which  stick  in  the  under  surface' of  the  ice,  like  emery 
powder  on  a  lapidary's  metal  plate.  They  move  slowly 
along  with  the  ice,  and  so  scratch  the  rock.  Separate 
stones  of  hand-size  may  be  picked  up  which  have  been 
scratched  in  this  way,  and  their  appearance  is  very  dis- 
tinctive. We  know  of  no  agency  except  that  of  moving 
ice  by  which  loose  stones  and  rocks  can  be  made  to  scratch 
one  another  so  as  to  give  this  special  appearance.  And 
accordingly,  when  we  find  such  rocks  in  Wales  and  Scotland, 
and  such  stones  in  the  "  drift  "  and  even  below  the  Red 
Crag  of  Suffolk,  we  are  led  to  the  guess,  which  is  con- 
firmed by  a  great  mass  of  additional  evidence,  that  glaciers 
or  great  masses  of  moving  ice  existed  formerly  on  the 
mountains  of  Wales  and  the  plains  of  East  Anglia. 

Whilst  the  rocks  which  are  covered,  or  were  at  one 
time  covered,  by  the  ice  of  a  glacier  are  rounded,  smoothed 
and  scratched,  the  higher  rocks  which  have  never  been 
submerged  by  the  moving  ice-mass  stand  out  sharp  and 
angular.  They  are  continually  broken  and  shattered  by 
the  action  of  frost,  and  shower  down  on  to  the  glaciers 
their  fragments,  and  sometimes  immense  masses  of  rock, 
which  accumulate  like  a  huge  railway  embankment  at  the 
sides  of  the  glacier,  or  are  slowly  carried  along  by  it  as 
they  rest  on  its  surface  (like  a  passenger  on  one  of  the 
new  moving  platforms  or  inclines),  and  so  are  deposited 
at  the  end  when  the  glacier  melts  away.  These  heaps  of 

4 


50  GLACIERS 

rock  are  called  "  moraines."  Those  at  the  sides  of  a 
glacier  are  called  "  lateral  moraines,"  and  the  heap  at 
the  melting  end  or  "  snout "  is  a  "  terminal  moraine." 
When  two  glaciers  flow  down  neighbouring  rock  valleys 
which  join  in  a  common  valley,  as  the  two  limbs  of  the 
letter  Y  join  on  the  stem,  the  glaciers  become  pressed 
and  fused  together  where  they  meet  and  form  one  glacier. 
The  left  lateral  moraine  of  the  right-hand  valley  (as  you 
descend)  joins  the  right  lateral  moraine  of  the  left-hand 
valley,  and  the  two  form  a  "  central  moraine  "  on  the  mid- 
line  of  the  slowly  advancing  combined  mass  of  ice.  The 
rock  fragments  on  such  a  moraine  are  of  all  sizes,  some 
as  big  as  a  small  house,  and  piled  up  in  some  large 
glaciers  to  a  breadth  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  They  give 
one  a  most  vivid  impression  of  the  tremendous  and 
incessant  breaking  down  of  the  mountains.  Often  one  may 
see  such  huge  masses  descend  with  a  terrible  roar  from  the 
heights  above  on  to  the  glacier  or  an  avalanche  of  smaller 
fragments  amounting  to  hundreds  of  tons  in  weight, 
pouring  down  the  precipitous  rocks  of  the  higher  peaks. 
Sometimes  when  one  looks  from  above  on  to  the  glacier  a 
thousand  or  more  feet  below,  the  size  of  the  rocky  frag- 
ments of  a  central  moraine  is  not  appreciated.  I  once 
heard  a  newly  arrived  and  inexperienced  visitor  at  the  Bel 
Alp  exclaim  as  he  looked  down  on  to  the  great  Aletch 
glacier,  "  I  suppose  they  have  spread  those  cinders  on  the 
ice  to  make  a  path  for  us  to  walk  on  along  the  glacier." 
He  had  no  notion  that  what,  at  that  distance,  he  took  for 
a  cinder-path,  consisted  of  huge  pieces  of  rock  mostly  of 
the  size  of  an  omnibus  ! 

A  matter  which  is  now  greatly  discussed  among  geolo- 
gists and  upon  which  different  views  are  held,  is  as  to  the 
"  grinding  "  or  "  excavating  "  action  of  glaciers  upon  the 
bed  over  which  they  slowly  move.  It  is  probable  that 
their  excavating  activity  has  been  exaggerated.  They  do 


EXCAVATION    BY    GLACIERS  51 

not  cut  the  first  lines  of  a  valley,  but  they  constantly 
deepen  the  valleys  along  which  they  move.  As  to  how 
much  of  this  kind  of  excavation  is  due  to  the  grinding 
action  of  the  vast  weight  of  slowly  moving  ice  and  how 
much  is  due  to  the  huge  and  violent  rushing  torrent  of 
water  which  always  underlies  the  ice  and  is  hemmed  in  at 
the  sides  of  the  valley  by  it,  seems  to  be  differently 
estimated  by  American,  Swiss,  and  English  geologists. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

T  TNTIL  instantaneous  photography  was  introduced,  a 
^J  little  more  than  twenty-five  years  ago  (by  the  dis- 
covery of  the  means  of  increasing  the  sensitiveness  of  a 
photographic  plate),  and  gradually  became  familiar  to 
everyone  in  the  exhibitions  known  as  the  "  biograph  "  or 
"  cinematograph,"  the  actual  position  of  the  legs  in  a 
galloping  horse  at  any  given  fraction  of  a  second  was 
unknown.  Anyone  who  has  tried  to  "  see  "  their  position 
will  agree  that  it  cannot  be  done.  Attempts  had  been 
made  to  make  out  what  the  movements  and  positions  of 
the  legs  "  must "  be,  by  studying  the  hoof-marks  in  a  soft 
track  laid  for  the  purpose.  But  the  result  was  not  satis- 
factory. 

As  everyone  knows,  the  so-called  "  biograph  "  pictures 
are  produced  by  an  enormous  series  of  consecutive 
instantaneous  photographs  taken  on  a  continuous  trans- 
parent flexible  film  or  ribbon.  The  camera  has  a 
mechanism  attached  to  it  by  which  the  sensitive  film 
is  jerked  along  so  as  to  expose  a  length  of  two  inches 
(the  size  of  the  picture  given  by  the  camera)  for,  say,  one 
thirtieth  of  a  second  without  movement.  The  film  is  then 
jerked  on  and  a  second  bit  of  two  inches  is  brought  into 
place  for  a  thirtieth  of  a  second  and  so  on  until  a  ribbon 
of  some  thousand  pictures  is  obtained.  The  interval 
between  each  picture  is  usually  also  about  one  thirtieth  of 


THE    CINEMATOGRAPH 


53 


a  second,  so  that  at  least  fifteen  pictures  are  taken  in  every 
second  of  time,  and  according  to  the  requirements  of  illu- 
mination and  the  rapidity  of  the  movements  of  the  men 
or  animals  photographed  this  number  may  be  greatly 
increased.  The  film  is  developed,  printed  and  fixed  on  a 
similar  rolling  film  and  the  pictures  are  thrown  one  by  one 
by  a  powerful  lantern  on  to  a  screen,  and  are  jerked  along 
at  the  same  rate  as  that  at  which  they  were  taken,  and  are 
magnified  enormously.  Animals  and  men  in  rapid  move- 
ment, railway  trains,  the  waves  of  the  sea  are  thus  photo- 
graphed, and  when  the  serial  pictures  are  thrown 
successively  on  the  screen  the  result  is  that  the  eye 
detects  no  interval  between  the  successive  pictures — the 
figures  appear  as  continuous  moving  objects.  This  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  whilst  the  impression  produced  on  the 
retina  of  the  eye  by  each  picture  lasts  for  a  tenth  of  a 
second  (less  with  brighter  light),  the  interval  between  the 
successive  pictures  is  only  one  thirtieth  of  a  second,  and 
accordingly  the  retinal  impression  has  not  gone  or  ceased 
before  the  next  is  there  ;  hence  there  is  no  break  in  the 
series  of  retinal  impressions,  but  continuity.* 

It  is  this  duration  of  the  impression  on  the  retina  which 
prevents  us  from  separating  or  "seeing  distinctly"  the 
successive  phases  of  a  horse's  legs  as  he  gallops  by,  and 
has  led  to  the  remarkable  result  that  no  artist  has  ever 
until  twenty-five,  years  ago  represented  correctly  any  one 
phase  of  the  movement  of  the  legs  in  a  galloping  horse, 
and  it  is  doubtful  whether  that  correctness  is  what  the 
painter  of  a  picture  really  ought  to  put  on  his  canvas. 
If  we  examine  the  separate  pictures  of  a  galloping  horse 
as  taken  on  a  cinematograph  film,  we  have  before  us 
the  actual  record  of  the  positions  assumed  by  the  legs 
at  intervals  of  the  thirtieth  of  a  second  (or  whatever  less 
interval  and  length  of  exposure  may  have  been  chosen), 

*  See  note  on  page  75. 


54    THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

and  it  is  simply  astonishing  to  find  how  utterly  diffe- 
rent they  are  from  what  had  been  supposed.  Twenty 
years  ago  Mr.  Muybridge  produced  a  number  of  these 
instantaneous  photographs  of  moving  animals — such  as  the 
horse  in  gallop,  trot,  canter,  amble,  walk,  and  jumping  and 
bucking — also  the  dog  running,  birds  of  several  kinds 
flying,  camel,  elephant,  deer,  and  other  animals  in  rapid 
movement.  The  animals  were  photographed  on  a  track 
in  front  of  a  wall,  marked  out  to  show  measured  yards  ; 
the  time  was  accurately  recorded  to  show  rate  of  move- 
ment and  length  of  exposure,  and  of  interval  between 
successive  pictures.  By  means  of  three  cameras  worked 
by  electric  shutter-openers,  a  side,  a  back,  and  a  front  view 
of  the  animal  were  taken  simultaneously.  Repeated  photo- 
graphs were  obtained  at  intervals  of  a  fraction  of  a  second, 
giving  a  series  of  fifteen  or  twenty  pictures  of  the  moving 
animal.  The  length  of  exposure  for  each  picture  was 
one  fortieth  of  a  second  or  less,  and  the  interval  between 
successive  pictures  was  about  the  same.  Muybridge's  great 
difficulty  had  been  to  invent  a  shutter  which  would  act 
rapidly  enough.  I  have  some  of  these  pictures  before  me 
now  (see  PI.  I).  They  show  that  what  has  been  drawn  by 
artists  and  called  the  "  flying  gallop,"  in  which  the  legs  are 
fully  extended  and  all  the  feet  are  off  the  ground,  with  the 
hind  hoofs  turned  upwards,  never  occurs  at  all  in  the  gal- 
loping horse,  nor  anything  in  the  least  like  it.  There  is  a 
fraction  of  a  second  when  all  four  legs  of  the  galloping 

PLATE  I. — Figs,  i  to  u,  drawings  from  Muybridge's  photographs  of  con- 
secutive poses  of  the  galloping  horse,  each  photograph  taken  by  an 
exposure  of  one  fortieth  of  a  second  and  separated  from  the  next  by 
an  interval  of  one  fortieth  of  a  second.  The  horse  in  Fig.  10  has 
returned  to  the  same  pose  as  that  with  which  the  series  starts  in  Fig.  i. 
Fig.  ii  gives  a  pose  one  hundredth  of  a  second  later  in  the  series 
than  that  taken  in  Fig.  2.  Fig.  12  shows  a  combination  of  the  hinder 
half  of  Fig.  9  with  the  front  half  of  Fig.  6,  giving  thus  the  maximum 
extension  of  boih  fore  and  hind  legs. 


PLATE  I. 


55 


56    THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

horse  are  off  the  ground,  but  they  are  not  then  extended, 
but,  on  the  contrary,  are  drawn,  the  hind  ones  forward  and 
the  front  ones  backward,  under  the  horse's  belly  (see  PL  I, 
figs.  2  and  3).  A  model  showing  this  actual  instantaneous 
attitude  of  the  galloping  horse  has  recently  been  placed  in 
the  Natural  History  Museum.  When  the  hoofs  touch  the 
ground  again  after  this  instantaneous  lifting  and  bending 
of  the  legs  under  the  horse,  the  first  to  touch  it  is  that  of 
one  of  the  hind  legs  (PL  I,  fig.  4),  which  is  pushed  very 
far  forward,  forming  an  acute  angle  with  the  body.  The 
shock  of  the  horse's  impact  on  the  ground  is  thus  received 
by  the  hind  leg,  which  reaches  obliquely  forward  beneath 
the  body  like  an  elastic  <-spring.  Since  the  intantaneous 
photographs  have  become  generally  known  artists  have 
ceased  to  represent  the  galloping  horse  in  the  curious 
stretched  pose  which  used  to  be  familiar  to  everyone  in 
Herring's  racing  plates  (see  PL  II,  fig.  i),  with  both  fore 
and  hind  legs  nearly  horizontal,  and  the  flat  surface  of  the 
hind  hoofs  actually  turned  upwards  !  Indeed,  as  early  as 
1886  a  French  painter,  M.  Aime  Morot,  availed  himself 
of  the  information  afforded  by  the  then  quite  novel  instan- 
taneous photographs  of  the  galloping  horse,  and  exhibited 
a  picture  of  the  cavalry  fight  at  Rezonville  between  the 
French  and  Germans,  in  which  the  old  flying  gallop  does 
not  appear,  but  the  attitudes  of  the  horses  are  those 


PLATE  II. — Various  representations  of  the  gallop.  Fig.  i. — From  Geri- 
cault's  picture,  "The  Epsom  Derby,  1821."  Figs.  2  and  3.— From 
gold-work  on  the  handle  of  a  Mycenaean  dagger,  1800  B.C.  Fig.  4. — 
From  iron-work  found  at  Koban,  east  of  the  Black  Sea,  dating  from 
500  B.C.  Fig.  5. — From  Muybridge's  instantaneous  photograph  of  a 
fox-terrier,  showing  the  probable  origin  of  the  pose  of  the  "flying 
gallop  "  transferred  from  the  dog  to  other  animals  by  the  Mycenseans. 
Fig.  6. — The  stretched-leg  prance  from  the  Bayeux  tapestry  (eleventh 
century).  Fig.  7. — The  stretched-leg  prance  used  to  represent  the 
gallop  by  Carle  Vernet  in  1760.  Fig.  8. — The  stretched-leg  prance 
used  by  early  Egyptian  artists. 


57 


PLATE  II. 


58    THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

revealed  by  the  new  photographs.  The  picture  is  an 
epoch-making  one,  whether  justifiable  or  not,  and  is  now 
in  the  gallery  of  the  Luxembourg.  It  must  be  noted  that 
though  Meissonier  and  others  had  succeeded  in  represent- 
ing more  truthfully  than  had  been  customary,  other  move- 
ments of  the  horse,  such  as  "  pacing,"  ambling,  cantering, 
and  trotting,  yet  in  regard  to  them,  also,  more  easily 
observed  because  less  rapid,  the  instantaneous  photograph 
served  to  correct  erroneous  conclusions. 

Two  very  interesting  questions  arise  in  connection  with 
the  discovery  by  instantaneous  photography  of  the  actual 
positions  successively  taken  up  by  the  legs  of  a  galloping 
horse.  The  first  is  one  of  historical  and  psychological 
importance,  viz.  why  and  when  did  artists  adopt  the  false 
but  generally  accepted  attitude  of  the  "  flying  gallop "  ? 
The  second  is  psychological  and  also  physiological,  viz.  if 
we  admit  that  the  true  instantaneous  phases  of  the  horse's 
gallop  (or  of  any  other  very  rapid  movement  of  anything) 
can  not  be  seen  separately  by  the  human  eye,  but  can 
only  be  separated  by  instantaneous  photography,  ought  an 
artist  to  introduce  into  a  picture,  which  is  not  intended  to 
serve  merely  as  a  scientific  diagram,  an  appearance  which 
has  no  actual  existence  so  far  as  his  or  other  human  eyes 

PLATE  III. — Representations  of  the  gallop.  Fig.  i. — A  combination  of  the 
hinder  half  of  Fig.  10,  PI.  I,  with  the  front  half  of  Fig.  4,  PI.  I. 
Fig.  2. — One  of  the  many  admirable  Chinese  representations  of  the 
galloping  horse.  This  is  very  early,  namely  100  A.D.  The  pose  is 
that  of  the  "  flying  gallop  "  as  in  Figs.  2,  4  and  5  of  PI.  II.  Fig.  3. — 
From  a  Japanese  drawing  of  the  seventeenth  century  ;  the  pose  is  a 
modification  of  the  "  flying  gallop,"  and  agrees  closely  with  that  of 
Fig.  I  in  this  plate.  Fig.  4. — The  flex-legged  prance  from  a  bas-relief 
in  the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon,  B.C.  300.  Fig.  5. — A  modern  French 
drawing  giving  a  pose  very  similar  to  that  of  Figs,  i  and  3.  It  is  the 
most  "  effective  "  pose  yet  adopted  by  artists,  and  is  an  improvement 
on  the  full-stretched  flying  gallop,  though  failing  to  suggest  the 
greatest  effort  and  rapidity.  Fig.  6. — Instantaneous  photographs  of 
four  phases  of  a  horse  "jumping." 


59 


PLATE  III. 


Fig.  3. 
Japanese,  17^  Contury 


Fig. 4. 

Parthenon 


*y/  1  1  >  i  >  i\  \  v 


F.g.5 
Conventional  Gallop 


Fig   6 


6o    THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

are  concerned,  viz.  that  of  the  actual  pose  assumed  instan- 
taneously and  simultaneously  by  the  four  legs  of  the 
galloping  horse  ?  And  further,  if  he  ought  not  to  do  this, 
what  ought  he  to  do,  on  the  supposition  that  his  purpose 
is  to  convey  to  others  the  same  impression  of  rapid  move- 
ment which  exists — not,  be  it  observed,  in  his  eye,  or  on 
the  retina  of  that  eye — but  in  his  mind,  as  the  result  of 
attention  and  judgment  ? 

The  first  of  these  questions  has  been  answered  by  the 
great  French  authority  on  archaeology  and  the  history  oi 
art,  M.  Salomon  Reinach,^  whose  writings  are  as  lucid  and 
terse  as  they  are  accurate,  and  solidly  based  on  research. 
M.  Reinach  shows  (and  produces  drawings  to  support  his 
statement)  that  in  Assyrian,  Egyptian,  Greek,  Roman, 
mediaeval,  and  modern  art  up  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  "  the  flying  gallop  "  does  not  appear  at  all !  The 
first  example  (so  far  as  those  schools  are  concerned)  is  an 
engraving  by  G.  T.  Stubbs  in  1794  of  a  horse  called 
"  Baronet."  The  essential  points  about  "the  flying  gallop  " 
are  that  the  fore-limbs  are  fully  stretched  forward,  the 
hind  limbs  fully  stretched  backward,  and  that  the  flat 
surfaces  of  the  hinder  hoofs  are  facing  upwards.  After 
this  engraving  of  1794  the  attitude  introduced  by  Stubbs 
became  generally  adopted  in  English  art  to  represent  a 
galloping  horse,  and  the  French  painter,  Gericault,  intro- 
duced it  into  France  in  1821  in  his  celebrated  picture, 
the  "Derby  d'Epsom,"  (see  PL  II,  fig.  i)  which  is  now  in 
the  Louvre. 

Previously  to  this  there  had  been  three  other  con- 
ventional poses  for  the  running  horse  in  art,  of  which  only 
the  third  (to  be  mentioned  below)  has  any  resemblance  to 
a  real  pose,  and  that  not  one  of  rapid  movement.  We 
find:  (i)  The  enlongated  or  stretched-leg  "prance"  (French, 

*  "  La  Representation  du  Galop  dans  1'art  ancien  et  moderne,"  '  Revue 
Archeologique,'  vol.  xxxvi  et  seq.,  1900. 


ANCIENT  REPRESENTATIONS   OF   GALLOP    61 

"  cabrt  allonge"},  in  which,  whilst  the  front  legs  are  off  the 
ground,  and  all  four  legs  are  stretched  nearly  as  much  as 
in  the  flying  gallop,  there  is  this  essential  difference,  viz. 
that  the  hoofs  of  the  hind  legs  are  firmly  planted  on  the 
ground  (see  PL  II,  fig.  7).      This  pose  is  seen  in  a  picture 
by  the  same  artist  (Stubbs)  of  two  years'  earlier  date  than 
that    in   which   he   introduced  "  the  flying  gallop."     The 
"stretched-leg  prance"  is  found  in  Egyptian  works  (PL  II, 
fig.  8)  of  580  B.C.,  and  is  a  favourite  pose  to  indicate  the 
gallop,  in  ancient  Assyrian  as  well  as  mediaeval  art,  for 
instance,  in  the  Bayeux  tapestry  (PL  VI,  fig.  6).    We  find, 
further,   (2)  that   the   second  pose  made  use  of  for  this 
purpose  is  the  "  flexed-leg  prance,"  in  which  all  the  four 
legs  are  flexed,  so  that  the  hind  legs  rest  on  the  ground 
beneath  the  horse's  body,  whilst  the  fore-legs  "  paw "  the 
air.    This  .is  seen  both  in  Egyptian,  Greek,  and  Renaissance 
art   (Leonardo,    Raphael,   and    Velasquez).      It   is   by  no 
means  so  graceful  or  true  to  Nature  as  the  next  pose,  but 
gives  an  impression  of  greater  energy  and  rapidity.      The 
third  pose  regresents  a  kind  of  "  prancing,"  and  is  seen  on 
the  frieze  of  the  Parthenon  (PL  III,  fig.  4),  and  in  many 
subsequent  Greek,  Roman,  and  other  works  copied  from, 
or  inspired  by,  this  Greek  original.      One  only  of  the  hind 
legs  is  on  the  ground,  and  the  animal's  body  is  thrown  up 
as  though  its  advance  were  checked  by  the  rein.      It  is 
called    "the  canter"  by  M.   Reinach,  but  that  term  can 
only  be  applied  to  it  when  the  axis  of  the  body  is  hori- 
zontal and  parallel  to  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

The  reader  will  perhaps  now  suppose  that  we  must 
attribute  the  "  flying  gallop  "  to  the  original,  if  inaccurate, 
genius  of  an  eighteenth  century  English  horse-painter, 
That,  however,  is  not  the  case.  M.  Reinach  has  shown 
that  it  has  a  much  more  extraordinary  history.  It  is 
neither  more  nor  less  than  the  fact  that  in  the  pre-Homeric 
art  of  Greece — that  which  is  called  "  Mycenaean  "  (of  which 


62     THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

so  much  was  made  known  by  the  discoveries  of  that 
wonderful  man  Schliemann  when  he  dug  up  the  citadel  of 
Agamemnon) — the  figures  of  animals,  horses,  deer,  bulls 
(see  the  beautiful  gold  cups  of  Vaphio),  dogs,  lions,  and 
griffins,  in  the  exact  conventional  pose  of  "  the  flying 
gallop,"  are  quite  abundant !  (See  PI.  II,  figs.  2,  3,  and  4.) 
There  was  an  absolute  break  in  the  tradition  of  art  between 
the  early  gold-workers  of  Mykene  (i  800  to  1000  B.C.)  and 
the  Greeks  of  Homer's  time  (800  B.C.).  Europe  never  re- 
ceived it,  nor  did  the  Assyrians  nor  the  Egyptians.  Thirty 
centuries  and  more  separate  the  reappearance  in  Europe 
of  the  flying  gallop — through  Stubbs — from  the  only  other 
European  examples  of  it — the  Mycenaean.  What,  then, 
had  become  of  it,  and  how  did  it  come  to  England  ? 
M.  Reinach  shows,  by  actual  specimens  of  art-work,  that 
the  Mycenaean  art  tradition,  and  with  it  the  "flying  gallop," 
passed  slowly  through  Asia  Minor  north-eastwards  to  the 
Trans-caucasus  (Koban  500  B.C.),  to  Northern  Persia,  and 
thence  by  Southern  Siberia  to  the  Chinese  Empire  (PL  III, 
fig.  2)  as  early  as  150  B.C.,  and  that  the  "flying  gallop,"  so 
to  speak,  "  flourished  "  there  for  centuries,  and  was  trans- 
mitted by  the  Chinese  artists  to  the  Japanese,  in  whose 
drawings  it  is  frequent  (PI.  Ill,  fig.  3).  It  was  at  last  finally 
brought  back  to  Europe,  and  to  the  extreme  west  of  it, 
namely,  England,  by  the  importation  in  the  eighteenth 
century  into  England  of  large  numbers  of  Japanese  works 
of  art.  It  was  a  Japanese  drawing  (M.  Reinach  infers) 
which  suggested  to  Stubbs  the  upturned  hinder  hoofs  and 
the  detachment  from  the  ground  of  "  the  flying  gallop  " 
which  he  gave  in  his  portrait  of  "  Baronet,"  and  so  esta 
lished  that  pose  for  a  century  in  modern  European  ar 
This  is  a  delightful  tracing  out  of  the  wanderings  of  a 
artistic  "  convention,"  and  the  curious  thing  is  that  it 
chief  importance  is  not  that  it  has  to  do  with  the  move- 
ments of  the  horse,  but  that  it  tends  (as  do  other  dis- 


)" 

\ 


THE    DOG    IN    MYCENAEAN    ART  63 

coveries)  to  establish  the  gradual  passage  of  pre-classical 
Mycenaean  art  across  Central  Asia  to  China  and  Japan  by 
trade  routes  and  human  migrations  which  had  no  touch 
with  later  Greece  nor  with  Assyria  nor  India. 

How  did  the  Mycenaeans  come  to  invent,  or  at  any  rate 
adopt,  the  convention  of  "  the  flying  gallop,"  seeing  that  it 
does  not  truly  represent  either  the  fact  or  the  appearance 
of  a  galloping  horse?  Though  20,000  years  ago  the 
earliest  of  all  known  artists,  the  wonderful  cave-men  of 
the  Reindeer  period,  drew  bison,  boars,  and  deer  in  rapid 
running  movement  with  consummate  skill,  they  were  (be 
it  said  to  their  credit !)  innocent  of  the  conventional  pose 
of  the  "  flying  gallop."  I  base  this  statement  on  my  own 
knowledge  of  their  work.  M.  Reinach  thinks  that  the 
"  flying  gallop "  was  devised  as  an  intentional  expression 
of  energy  in  movement.  I  venture  to  hold  the  opinion 
that  it  was  observed  by  the  Mycenaeans  in  the  dog,  in 
which  Muybridge's  photographs  (now  before  me)  demon- 
strate that  it  occurs  regularly  as  an  attitude  of  that  animal's 
quickest  pace  or  gallop  (see  fig.  5,  PL  II).  It  is  easy  to 
see  the  "  flying  gallop  "  in  the  case  of  the  dog,  since  the 
dog  does  not  travel  so  fast  as  the  galloping  horse,  and  can 
be  more  readily  brought  under  accurate  vision  on  account 
of  its  smaller  size.  The  late  Professor  Marey  (a  great 
investigator  of  animal  movement)  appears  to  have  denied 
that  the  dog  exhibits  the  full  stretch  of  both  limbs  with 
the  pads  of  the  hind-feet  upturned,  and  all  the  feet  free 
from  the  ground.  He  was  mistaken,  as  Muybridge's 
photograph  giving  side  and  back  view  of  a  galloping  fox- 
terrier  amply  demonstrates.  It  is  quite  in  accordance  with 
probability  that  the  early  Mycenaean  artists,  having  seen 
how  the  dog  gallops,  erroneously  proceeded  to  put  the 
galloping  horse,  and  all  other  animals  which  they  wished 
"  to  make  gallop,"  into  the  same  position. 

It  appears,   then,    that   the   poses  used   by    artists    at 


64    THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

different  times  and  in  different  parts  of  the  world  to  repre- 
sent  the  "  galloping "    of  the   horse  have   no   correspon- 
dence to  any  of  the  poses  actually  assumed  by  a  galloping 
horse  as  now  demonstrated  by  instantaneous  photography. 
The  "  prancing  "  attitude  of  the  horses  of  the  frieze  of  the 
Parthenon  was  probably  not  intended  to  represent  rapid 
movement   at  all.       The    "  stretched  leg  "   pose  and    the 
"  flexed  leg  "  pose  are,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  phases  of  "  the 
jump,"  and  are  definitely  recorded  in  Muybridge's  instan- 
taneous photographs  of  the  jumping  horse,  but  have  no 
existence  in  "  galloping  "  nor  in  any  rapid  running  of  the 
horse.      They    were   probably   adopted    by   the   artists  of 
Egypt,  Assyria,  Greece,  and  their  successors  in  Europe  as 
an  expedient  without  conviction,  to  represent  rapid  move- 
ment, the  true  poses  of  which  defied  satisfactory  reproduc- 
tion.     And   it   is    also  the  fact   that  the  "  flying  gallop," 
which  appeared  in  Mycenaean  art  thirty-seven  centuries  ago, 
and  then  travelled  by  a  "  Scythian  "  route  through  Tartary 
to    China,  and    came  back    to  Europe   at   the  end  of  the 
eighteenth   century,   is     also — so   far    as   it   has   any   real 
representative  in  the  action  of  the  horse — only  approached 
by  a  brief  phase  of  the  "  jump."      The  poses  of  the  horse 
in  jumping   are   shown   in  the    small   figures    taken   from 
instantaneous   photographs    and    reproduced    in   fig.   6  of 
PL  III.    The  fine  engraving  from  the  Duke  of  Newcastle's 
book,  published  in  1667,  which  is  reproduced  in  PL  IV,  is 
not  an  attempt  to  represent  a  horse  galloping,  but  a  correct 
drawing  of  a  horse  "  taking  off"  for  a  jump  as  seen  in  the 
uppermost  horse  in   PL  III,  fig.  6.     The  picture  given  by 
the  Duke  is  250  years  old,  but  it  is  not  an  anticipation 
of  Stubbs'  flying  gallop,  although  the  hind  legs  are  repre- 
sented with   the  hoofs  turned  upwards.      It   intentionally 
represents  (according  to  the  text  of  the  treatise  in  which 
it  was  first  published)  a  jump,  not  a  gallop.     The  "flying 
gallop  "  ("  venire  a  terre  "),  with  all  four  legs  stretched,  and 


PLATE   IV. 


Reproduction  from  Mr.  Theodore  A.  Cook's  book,  '  A  History  of  the 
English  Turf,'  published  by  Virtue  and  Co.,  of  an  engraving  in  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle's  book,  dated  1667,  with  the  title,  '  A  New 
Method  and  Extraordinary  Invention  to  Dress  Horses  and  Work 
them  according  to  Nature.'  The  horse  in  this  picture  is  represented 
with  the  hoofs  of  the  hind-legs  up-turned  as  in  the  pose  of  the  flying 
gallop  introduced  by  Stubbs  a  hundred  and  twenty  years  later.  The 
horse  is,  however,  in  this  picture  not  supposed  to  be  "  galloping," 
but  is  "jumping,"  and  in  that  action,  as  shown  in  PI.  Ill,  fig.  6,  the 
legs  and  hoofs  do  actually  assume  the  position  shown  in  this 
admirable  engraving. 


WHAT    OUGHT    AN    ARTIST    TO    DO?        65 

the  under  surface  of  the  hind  feet  upturned,  is  really  seen 
by  us  all  every  day  in  the  dog,  and  is  recorded  in  instan- 
taneous photographs  of  that  animal  going  at  full  speed. 
In  fact,  the  gallop  of  the  dog  (and  of  some  other  small 
animals)  is  a  series  of  jumps  ;  the  animal  "  bounds  along." 
But  this  is  a  totally  different  thing  from  the  gallop  of  the 
horse.  It  is  probable  that  the  dog's  gallop  was  trans- 
ferred, so  to  speak,  to  the  horse  by  artists,  and  a  certain 
justification  for  it  was  found  in  one  of  the  attitudes  of  a 
jumping  horse,  which,  however,  never  exhibits  both  the 
front  and  the  hind  legs  simultaneously  in  so  completely 
horizontal  a  position  as  they  are  made  to  take  in  the 
Mycenaean  gold-work  and  the  modern  "  racing  plates." 

How,  then,  we  may  now  ask,  ought  an  artist  to  repre- 
sent a  galloping  horse  ?  Some  critics  say  that  he  ought 
not  to  represent  anything  in  such  rapid  action  at  all.  But, 
putting  that  opinion  aside,  it  is  an  interesting  question  as 
to  what  a  painter  should  depict  on  his  canvas  in  order  to 
convey  to  others  who  look  at  it  the  state  of  mind,  of 
impression,  feeling,  emotion,  judgment,  which  a  live,  gallop- 
ing horse  produces  in  him.  The  scientific  draughtsman 
would,  of  course,  present  to  us  a  series  of  drawings  exactly 
like  the  instantaneous  photographs,  his  object  being  to  show 
what  "  is,"  and  not  what  the  artist  aims  at,  namely,  what 
"  appears,"  "  seems,"  or  (without  pondering  and  analysis) 
"  is  thought  to  be."  The  painter,  in  his  quality  of  artist, 
would  be  wrong  to  select  any  one  of  the  dozen  or  more  poses 
of  the  galloping  horse  published  by  Muybridge,  each  limited 
to  the  fortieth  of  a  second,  since  no  human  eye  can  fix  (as 
the  photographic  camera  can)  separate  pictures  following 
one  another  at  the  rate  of  twenty  a  second,  each  enduring 
one  fortieth  of  a  second,  and  each  separated  by  an  interval 
of  a  fortieth  of  a  second  from  the  next.  All  the  phases 
which  occur  in  any  one-tenth  of  a  second  (only  two,  or 
possibly  three  of  the  Muybridge  series  shown  in  PI.  I)  are 

5 


66  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

as  it  were,  fused  in  our  visual  impression,  because  each 
picture  lasts  on  the  retina  of  the  eye  for  one  tenth  of  a 
second,  or  (to  put  it  more  accurately)  because  the  "  im- 
pression "  or  condition  of  the  retina  produced  by  each 
picture  persists  or  endures  for  the  tenth  of  a  second. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  suggested  (and,  indeed,  has  been), 
that  it  is  the  "  blurred  "  or  "  fused  "  picture  produced  by 
the  successive  poses  of  the  galloping  horse's  legs  in  one 
tenth  of  a  second  that  the  painter  ought  to  imitate  on  his 
canvas.  In  support  of  this  notion  we  have  the  fact  that 
the  rapidly  running  wheels  of  a  coach  or  of  a  gun-carriage 
(as  in  the  pictures  by  Wouwerman)  are  represented  by 
artists,  not  with  the  twelve  or  fourteen  spokes  which  we 
know  to  be  there — and  would  be  photographed  as  separate 
things  in  an  exposure  of  the  fortieth  of  a  second — but 
as  a  blurred  haze  of  some  fifty  or  more  indistinct 
"  spokes."  In  this  case  it  undoubtedly  results  that  the 
observer  of  the  picture  is  satisfied  and  receives  the  mental 
impression  or  illusion  of  a  rapid  rotation  of  the  wheel.  I 
have  tried  the  experiment  with  instantaneous  photographs 
of  the  galloping  horse,  and  I  get  three  results  :  first,  no 
combination  of  successive  phases  occupying  one  tenth  of 
a  second  gives  anything  resembling  the  "  flying  gallop  " 
of  the  racing  plates  (the  Mycenaean  and  Stubbsian  pose), 
or  any  other  conventional  pose  ;  second,  no  combination 
of  successive  instantaneous  photographs  limited  to  ten 
seconds  gives  any  pose  which  satisfies  the  judgment  and 
suggests  a  movement  like  the  gallop  ;  third,  the  combina- 
tion which  comes  nearest  to  satisfying  the  judgment  as 
being  a  natural  appearance,  but  does  not  quite  succeed  in 
doing  so,  is  one  formed  by  the  fusion  of  figs.  2  and  3  of 
PI.  I.  This  gives  all  four  legs  off  the  ground,  drawn  up 
or  flexed  beneath  the  horse's  body,  as  in  Morot's  picture 
of  the  sabre-charge  at  Resonville. 

The  fact  is  that  we  have  to  take  into  consideration  two 


ATTENTION  AS  A  CONDITION  OF  SEEING    67 

other  factors  in  the  process,  which  we  call  "  seeing,"  besides 
the  duration  of  the  retinal  impression  or  excitation.  These 
are,  first,  attention,  and  second,  judgment.  We  are  apt  to 
think  that  "  seeing "  is  a  simple,  straightforward  sort  of 
thing,  whereas  it  is  really  a  strangely  complex  and  delusive 
process.  "  I  did  not  see  it,  therefore  it  was  not  there,"  or 
"  You  must  have  seen  it ;  it  was  right  in  front  of  you,"  are 
common  assertions,  and  the  belief  that  such  assertions 
are  justified  leads  to  miscarriage  of  justice  in  courts  of  law. 
Yet  everyone  knows  that  he  may  stare  out  of  the  window 
of  a  railway  carriage  and  have  a  long  panorama  pass  before 
his  eyes,  or  may  walk  along  a  crowded  street  and  look  his 
acquaintances  in  the  face,  and  in  neither  case  will  he  have 
"  seen "  or  recognised  anything,  or  be  able  to  give  an 
account  of  the  scene  that  was  pictured  on  the  back  of  his 
eye.  Attention,  the  direction  of  the  mind  to  the  sensation, 
is  necessary  ;  and  it  appears  that  it  is  very  difficult  (to 
some  more  than  to  others)  to  hold  the  attention  alert,  and 
to  give  it  to  the  unexpected.  In  fact,  to  a  very  large 
extent  we  can  only  "  see  "  (using  the  word  to  signify  the 
ultimate  mental  condition)  that  which  we  are  prepared  to 
see  or  that  which  we  expect  to  see.  In  the  absence  of 
such  expectation,  a  very  strongly  illuminated  or  well- 
marked,  outstanding  object  is  far  more  readily  "  seen  " 
than  less  marked  objects.  Accordingly,  the  outstretched 
legs  of  the  galloping  horse,  now  in  front  and  now  behind, 
are  "  seen,"  whilst  the  rest  of  the  phases  are  not  observed. 
Moreover,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  swinging  pendulum  of  a 
clock  is  "  seen  "  at  the  extreme  position  of  the  swing  an 
each  side,  and  not  in  the  intermediate  sp  ace.  This  is 
because  the  image  is  formed  very  quickly,  twice  in  the 
space  where  the  bob  of  the  pendulum  is  coming  to  the 
limit  of  its  swing  and  is  again  returning  on  its  course. 
For  the  same  reason,  the  outstretched  legs  of  the  horse 
going  up  to  their  limit  and  at  once  returning  give  in  very 


68  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

quick  succession,  near  their  extreme  limit,  an  ascending 
and  a  descending  phase  which  are  not  strictly  but  sensibly 
alike,  and  so  doubly  impress  the  retina,  and  obtain  for  the 
legs  "  attention "  when  in  that  extreme  position.  The 
choice  of  the  attitude  depicted  by  Morot  is  explained  by 
the  fact  that,  as  is  shown  by  its  persistence  through  two 
successive  pictures  (figs.  2  and  3  of  PL  I),  this  pose  must 
produce  a  more  continuous  impression  on  the  retina  than 
any  other  of  the  attitudes  shown,  since  none  of  them  endure 
through  two  successive  pictures. 

The  mental  process  of  attention  results  in  a  certain 
duration  or  memory  of  the  mental  condition  which  is  a 
distinct  thing  from  the  primary  retinal  impression,  and 
leads  to  the  ignoring  or  mental  obliteration  of  an  instan- 
taneous interval  separating  two  phases  of  the  position  of 
moving  legs  which  have  strongly  "  arrested  the  attention." 
Hence,  it  seems  that  the  most  forward  pose  of  the  galloping 
horse's  front  legs  and  the  most  backward  pose  of  its  hind 
legs — though  far  from  simultaneous,  even  in  the  slow 
changing  retinal  impressions — may  be  mentally  combined 
by  "  the  arrest  of  attention,"  and  that  the  artist  really 
ought  to  present  his  picture  of  the  galloping  horse  with 
those  two  poses  combined  (although  as  a  matter  of  scientific 
truth  they  do  not  occur  simultaneously)  in  order  that  he 
may  produce  by  his  painted  piece  of  canvas,  as  nearly  as 
he  can,  the  mental  result  which  we  call  "  seeing  "  a  horse 
gallop.  This  combination  of  the  front  half  of  one  figure 
with  the  hinder  half  of  another  so  as  to  give  in  each  case 
the  extreme  phase  of  extension  of  the  legs  I  have  made 
in  PL  I,  fig.  12. 

But  there  is,  further,  in  all  "  seeing "  before  even  a 
mental  result  of  attention  to  the  retinal  picture  is,  as  it 
were,  "  passed,"  admitted  and  registered  as  "  a  thing  seen," 
the  further  operation  of  rapid  criticism  or  judgment, 
brief  though  it  be.  We  are  always  unconsciously  forming 


JUDGMENT    AND    PREJUDICE  69 

lightning-like  judgments  by  the  use  of  our  eyes,  rejecting 
the  improbable,  and  (as  we  consider)  preposterous,  and 
accepting  and  therefore  "  seeing "  what  our  judgment 
approves  even  when  it  is  not  there  !  We  accept  as  "  a 
thing  seen  "  a  wheel  buzzing  round  with  something  like 
fifty  spokes — but  we  cannot  accept  a  horse  with  eight  or 
sixteen  legs  !  The  four- legged  ness  of  a  horse  is  too 
dominant  a  prejudice  for  us  to  accept  a  horse  with  several 
indistinct  blurred  legs  as  representing  what  we  see  when 
the  horse. gallops.  The  mind  revolts  at  such  a  presenta- 
tion, though  it  is  true,  and  the  whole  scheme  and  composi- 
tion of  the  artist  is  perverted  or  fails  to  gain  attention  and 
to  exercise  its  charm — by  the  unwelcome  presence  in  his 
picture  of  the  revolting  truth.  It  is  the  consideration  of 
facts  of  this  kind  which  enables  us  to  understand  the  origin 
and  importance  of  what  are  called  "  conventions  "  in 
pictorial  or  glyptic  art.  The  artist  is,  in  fact,  operating 
by  means  of  his  painted  canvas  or  moulded  clay  upon  a 
queer,  prejudiced,  ill-seeing,  dull,  living  creature — his 
brother-man.  In  order  to  give  if  possible  to  that  brother, 
by  means  of  a  painted  sheet,  some  or  all  of  the  delights, 
emotions,  suggestions,  perceptions  of  beauty,  and  so  on, 
which  he  himself  has  experienced  in  contemplating  a  real 
scene,  the  artist  has  to  present  that  scene,  not  as  it  really 
is,  nor  even  as  he  thinks  it  really  is,  but  in  such  a  way 
that  his  canvas  shall  appeal  to  his  brother's  attention  and 
judgment  with  the  same  emotional  and  intellectual  result 
as  the  scene  itself  produced  in  him.  Therefore  he  must 
not  aim  at  accuracy  of  reproduction  of  natural  fact  nor 
even  of  visual  fact,  but  at  the  transference  to  another  mind 
of  his  own  mental  condition — his  inner  judgment  as  to 
"  things  seen  "-  —by  means  of  necessarily  imperfect  pictorial 
mimicry.  He  must  therefore  avoid  startling  or  abnormal 
truthfulness  of  observation  of  the  unessential,  and  even 
more  strictly  must  he  refuse  to  make  his  picture  a  scientific 


70  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

diagram    demonstrating   what    "  is  "   rather   than    what   is 
"seen"  or  is  "thought  to  have  been  seen." 

On  these  grounds  I  find  that  the  most  satisfactory 
pictures  of  the  galloping  horse  are  those  which  combine  a 
phase  of  the  movement  of  the  front  legs  with  a  phase  of 
the  movement  of  the  hind  legs,  not  simultaneous  in  actual 
occurrence,  but  following  one  another.  It  is  for  the 
artist  to  select  the  combination  best  suited  to  producing 
the  mental  result  aimed  at.  Some  of  the  Chinese  and 
Japanese  representations  of  the  galloping  horse  and  some 
of  their  European  imitations  (but  not  all — certainly  not 
that  of  Stubbs,  of  the  Epsom  Derby  of  Gericault,  and  the 
racing  plates)  seem  to  me  to  be  eminently  satisfactory  and 
successful  in  this  respect.  In  the  pictures  to  which  I 
allude  (PL  III,  figs.  3  and  5)  all  the  legs  are  off  the 
ground  ;  the  front  legs  are  advanced,  but  one  or  both  may 
be  more  or  less  flexed,  whilst  the  hind  legs,  though 
directed  backwards  with  upturned  hoofs,  are  not  nearly 
horizontal  (as  they  actually  are  in  the  galloping  dog),  but 
show  the  moderate  extension  which  really  occurs  in  the 
horse,  and  is  recorded  by  instantaneous  photography. 
This  pose,  favoured  by  many  European  and  Japanese 
artists,  can  be  obtained  by  uniting  the  outstretched  hind 
legs  of  fig.  9  of  the  Muybridge  series  (PL  I),  with  the 
outstretched  forelegs  of  fig.  6,  as  shown  in  PL  I,  fig.  I  2, 
or  by  uniting  the  hind  legs  of  fig.  10  with  the  forelegs  of 
fig.  4  as  shown  in  PL  III,  fig.  I. 

With  regard  to  the  representation  of  other  "  gaits  "  of 
the  horse  than  that  of  the  rapid  gallop — such  as  canter, 
trot,  amble,  rack,  and  walk — I  have  no  doubt  that  instan- 
taneous photography  can  (and  in  practice  does)  furnish 
the  painter  with  perfectly  correct  and  at  the  same  time 
useful  and  satisfactory  poses  of  the  horse's  limbs.  These, 
though  of  longer  duration  than  the  poses  of  the  gallop, 
can  only  be  correctly  estimated  by  the  eye  with  great 


NATURAL    AND    ARTIFICIAL    PAGES        71 

difficulty,  and  only  sketched  by  artists  of  exceptional 
skill  and  patience.  The  movement  of  the  wings  of  birds 
in  flight  has  been  very  successfully  analysed  by  instan- 
taneous photography.  Some  of  the  poses  revealed  must 
familiarise  the  public  with  what  can  be,  and,  in  fact,  has 
been,  observed  in  the  case  of  large  sea-birds,  by  the 
unassisted  eye,  and  has  been  represented  in  pictures  by  the 
more  careful  observers  of  nature  among  modern  painters. 
A  large  sea-bird  sailing  along  with  apparently  motionless 
wings  has  been  photographed  in  the  act  of  giving  a  single 
stroke  so  rapid  as  to  escape  observation  by  the  eye. 

An  interesting  question  in  regard  to  the  movements  of 
the  horse  is  that  as  to  how  far  any  known  "  pace "  is 
natural  to  that  animal,  and  how  far  it  has  been  acquired 
by  training  and  is,  in  a  sense,  artificial.  We  know  so  little 
of  the  wild  horse,  and  of  the  more  abundant  wild  asses 
and  zebras,  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  anything  precise  on 
this  question.  There  is  only  one  region  in  which  the  true 
original  wild  horse  of  the  northern  part  of  Asia  and 
Europe  still  exists.  That  is  the  Gobi  Desert,  in  Central 
Asia.  This  horse  is  known  as  Prevalsky's  wild  horse,  in 
honour  of  the  Russian  traveller  who  discovered  it.  Live 
specimens  are  now  to  be  seen  in  the  Zoological  Gardens 
and  elsewhere.  It  closely  resembles  the  drawings  of  horses 
made  by  the  palaeolithic  Cromagnard  cave-men.  A  century 
ago  a  wild  horse,  probably  of  the  same  race  as  this,  inhabited 
the  Kirghiz  Steppes,  and  was  known  as  the  Tarpan  ;  it  is 
now  extinct.  The  more  southern  Arabian  horse  is  not 
known  in  the  wild  state,  whilst  the  wild  horses  of  America 
are  descendants  of  domesticated  European  horses  which 
have  "run  wild."  I  do  not  know  of  any  studies  of  the  move- 
ments of  the  true  wild  horse,  nor  of  those  of  wild  asses  and 
zebras,  carried  out  by  the  aid  of  instantaneous  photography. 
It  would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  untaught  wild 
"  equines  "  would  fall  naturally  into  the  gaits  known  as  "  the 


72  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

amble  "  and  "  the  rack,"  or  whether  the  walk,  the  trot,  and 
the  gallop  are  their  only  natural  gaits. 

The  amble,  in  which  the  fore  and  hind  leg  on  the  same 
side  are  advanced  simultaneously,  is  a  natural  gait  of  the 
elephant,  the  fastest  Muybridge  could  get  from  that  great 
beast.  He  made  a  menagerie  elephant  amble  at  the  rate 
of  a  mile  in  seven  minutes.  The  only  other  animal  known 
to  habitually  exhibit  "  the  amble  "  is  the  giraffe.  It  is  often 
exhibited  by  the  giraffes  in  the  Zoological  Gardens  in 
London,  but  has  not,  I  believe,  been  recorded  by  a  series 
of  instantaneous  photographs.  When  going  at  full  speed 
over  the  grass  wilds  of  Central  Africa  the  giraffe  exhibits 
a  gait  more  like  the  galloping  of  deer  and  antelopes,  and 
carries  the  long  neck  horizontally.  No  complete  study  of 
the  "  gaits  "  of  large  animals  other  than  the  horse  has  been 
made,  since  menagerie  specimens  and  menagerie  conditions 
are  not  satisfactory  for  the  purpose,  and,  unfortunately,  it 
has  not  been  possible  as  yet  to  take  series  of  photographs 
of  them  in  their  wild  conditions. 

The  electric  spark  furnishes  a  most  important  means  of 
taking  instantaneous  photographs,  but  the  operator  must 
perform  in  the  dark.  An  electric  spark  can  be  obtained 
which  lasts  only  the  one  two-thousandth  of  a  second,  and 
by  its  use  as  the  sole  illuminating  agent  we  can  get  a 
photograph  of  a  phase  of  movement  lasting  only  that 
excessively  short  space  of  time,  or,  if  we  please,  a  succession 
of  such  phases  by  using  a  succession  of  sparks.  Thus,  a 
rifle  bullet  is  readily  photographed  while  in  flight  with 
scarcely  perceptible  distortion.  A  wheel  revolving  many 
hundred  times  a  second  can  thus  be  photographed,  and 
appears  to  be  stationary.  Dr.  Schillings  has  applied  this 
method  to  the  photography  of  wild  animals  by  night  in 
the  forests  of  tropical  Africa,  and  has  published  an 
interesting  book  giving  his  photographic  results.  In  order 
to  take  these  pictures  the  track  followed  by  certain  animals 


PHOTOGRAPHS  BY  ELECTRIC  SPARK   73 

has  to  be  detected,  and  then  a  thread  is  stretched  "  breast- 
high  "  across  the  track,  so  that  the  animal  coming  along  it 
by  night  shall  pull  the  thread.  Immediately  the  thread  is 
pulled  it  sets  an  electric  contact  in  action.  There  is  a  brief 
flash  of  one  two-thousandth  of  a  second,  and  a  picture  is 
taken  by  a  camera  previously  fixed,  out  of  harm's  way,  so 
as  to  focus  the  area  where  the  thread  was  stretched. 

Dr.  Schillings  obtained  some  very  remarkable  photo- 
graphs of  "  the  night  life  of  the  forest "  in  this  way — lions 
and  leopards  advancing  on  their  prey  were  suddenly 
revealed,  and  the  helpless  antelope  or  other  victim  was 
shown  crouching  in  the  dark,  or  making  a  desperate  effort 
to  escape. 

The  electric-spark  method  was  applied  by  a  friend  of 
mine  to  demonstrate  the  movements  by  which  a  kitten 
falling  backwards  from  a  table  succeeds  in  turning  itself  so. 
as  to  alight  on  its  feet.  During  a  fall  of  less  than  3  ft.  he 
obtained  five  successive  spark-pictures  of  the  kitten,  which, 
I  beg  it  may  be  clearly  understood,  was  a  pet  kitten,  and 
was  neither  frightened  nor  hurt  by  the  proceedings. 

Instantaneous  photographs,  whether  obtained  by  the  use 
of  an  electric  spark  as  a  means  of  illumination,  or  by 
the  less  rapid  method  of  a  spring  shutter  working  in 
combination  with  a  sensitive  film,  which  is  jerked  along 
so  as  to  be  exposed  when  the  shutter  is  open  and  travel 
when  it  is  shut,  has  been  applied  to  the  analysis  of 
other  movements  than  those  I  have  mentioned,  and  has 
yet  to  be  applied  to  many  more,  such  as  the  crawling  of 
insects  and  millipedes,  and  the  beautiful  rippling  move- 
ment of  the  legs  and  body  by  which  many  marine  worms 
swim.  It  has  been  extensively  used  in  the  study  of 
human  locomotion,  and  of  the  successive  poses  of  the  arms 
and  legs  in  various  athletic  exercises,  and  in  such  games 
as  baseball  and  golf. 

A    first-rate    fencer  of    my    acquaintance  had    a    five- 


74  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

minutes'  film  of  himself  taken  when  fencing,  giving 
10,000  consecutive  poses.  He  wished  to  see  exactly 
what  movements  he  made,  and  to  ascertain  by  this 
minute  examination  any  error  or  want  of  grace  in  his 
action,  in  order  to  avoid  it.  An  unexpected  picture  is 
obtained  when  a  man  or  woman  is  thus  "  biographed  " 
whilst  walking  rapidly,  and  suddenly  turns  to  the  right  or 
left.  A  fraction  of  a  second  occurs  when  the  toes  of  the 
two  feet  are  directed  towards  one  another  (that  is  to  say, 
are  "  turned  in  "),  as  one  of  the  legs  swings  round  in  the 
break-off  to  right  or  left.  This  instantaneous  phase  is 
very  awkward  and  ugly  in  appearance.  It  is  never 
pictured  by  artists,  although  regularly  occurring,  and 
seems  to  have  been  as  little  known  before  instantaneous 
photography  was  introduced  as  were  most  of  the  phases  of 
the  horse's  gallop.  The  positions  assumed  when  in  the  air 
by  a  high-jump  athlete  are  almost  incredible  as  revealed  by 
the  camera.  He  appears  to  be  sitting  in  a  most  uncom- 
fortable way  on  the  rope  over  which  he  is  projecting  himself. 
A  very  fine  attitude  is  fixed  for  the  artist  in  one  of 
Muy bridge's  instantaneous  series  of  the  "  bowler  " — the 
cricket  "  bowler."  The  up-lifted  right  arm,  the  curve  out- 
wards of  the  whole  figure  on  the  right  side,  and  the  free 
hang  of  the  right  leg  make  a  most  effective  pose  for  a 
sculptor  to  reproduce.  Among  the  most  remarkable  results 
obtained  in  Muybridge's  series  are  the  stages  of  the  growth 
or  development  of  strong  "  expression  "  in  the  face.  The 
anxiety  in  the  face  of  the  baseball  batsman  as  he  awaits 
the  ball  is  painful  ;  as  he  hits  at  the  ball  his  expression  is 
one  of  savage  ferocity,  and  in  a  fraction  of  a  second  this 
gives  place  to  a  dawning  smile,  which  as  we  pass  along 
two  or  three  later  "  instantanees  "  develops  into  a  broad 
grin  of  satisfaction.  Another  genuine  study  of  expression 
both  of  face  and  gesture  and  movement  is  given  in  the 
series  where  a  pailful  of  cold  water  is  unexpectedly  poured 


USE  OF  INSTANTANEOUS  PHOTOGRAPHS  75 

over  the  back  of  a  bather  seated  in  a  sitz  bath — astonish- 
ment, dismay,  anger,  eagerness  to  escape,  and  the  reaction 
to  shock  are  all  clearly  shown.  Darwin's  studies  on  "  the 
expression  of  the  emotions  "  would  have  been  greatly 
assisted  by  such  analysis,  and  the  subject  might  even  now 
be  developed  by  the  use  of  serial  instantaneous  records 
obtained  by  photography.  It  may  be  useful  to  those 
interested  in  this  subject  to  know  that  copies  of  Muybridge's 
large  series  of  instantaneous  photographs*  of  animal  and 
human  subjects  in  movement  are  preserved  both  in  the 
library  of  the  Royal  Academy  of  Arts  in  London  and  in 
the  Radcliffe  Library  at  Oxford.  I  may  also  mention  the 
extremely  valuable  series  of  instantaneous  photographs  of 
living  bacteria,  blood-parasites  and  infusoria  produced  by 
MM.  Pathe,  and  the  series  of  fishes  and  various  invertebrates 
(including  the  curious  caterpillar-like  Peripatus)  taken  by 
Mr.  Martin  Duncan. 

The  representation  of  the  moon  in  pictures  of  the 
ordinary  size  (some  three  feet  long  by  two  in  height)  is  a 
case  in  which  the  artist  habitually — one  may  almost  say 

*  A  word  is  needed  in  amplification  of  what  was  said  on  p.  53  as  to  the 
blending  of  successive  images  produced  on  the  retina  of  the  eye  by  the 
bioscope  or  cinematograph  or  by  the  old  "  wheel  of  life."  The  point 
which  is  of  importance  is  not  the  length  of  time  during  which  the  stimula- 
tion of  the  retina  caused  by  an  image  endures — becoming  weaker  and 
weaker  as  fractions  of  a  second  pass — but  it  is  this :  How  long  will  a 
stimulus  last  in  undiminished  brightness  ?  How  soon  must  it  be  followed 
by  another  stimulus  (another  image)  so  that  there  may  be  fusion  or  con- 
tinuity, the  one  succeeding  the  other  before  the  earlier  has  had  time,  not  to 
disappear,  but  to  decline.  If  it  has  had  time  to  decline  in  intensity,  the 
appearance  of  flickering  results.  That  is  what  the  cinematographer  has  to 
avoid.  It  is  found  that  a  quicker  succession — a  shorter  interval — is  neces- 
sary with  strong  light  than  with  weaker  light  in  order  to  produce  continuity. 
With  a  faint  light  the  interval  may  be  as  great  as  one-tenth  of  a  second  ; 
with  a  strong  light  it  must  not  exceed  one-thirtieth  (or  with  still  stronger 
light,  one-sixtieth)  of  a  second.  With  the  stronger  light  there  is  a  more 
rapid  and  a  greater  loss  of  the  initial  intensity  of  the  impression  or  effect  of 
stimulus,  and  though  each  successive  effect  remains  as  long,  or  longer,  in 
dwindling  intensity,  you  get  want  of  continuity,  or  "  flicker." 


76  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

invariably — departs  greatly  from  scientific  truth,  and  it 
is  a  question  as  to  whether  he  is  justified  in  what  he  does. 
Take  first  the  case  of  the  low-lying  moon  near  the  horizon 
as  contrasted  with  the  high  moon.  Everyone  knows  that 
the  moon  (and  the  sun*  also)  appears  to  be  much  bigger 
when  it  is  low  than  when  it  is  high.  Everyone  who  has 
not  looked  into  the  matter  closely  is  prepared  to  maintain 
that  the  luminous  disc  in  the  sky — whether  of  moon  or 
of  sun — not  merely  seems  to,  but  actually  does,  occupy  a 
bigger  space  when  it  is  low  down  near  the  horizon  than 
when  it  is  high  up,  more  nearly  overhead.  Of  course, 
no  one  nowadays  imagines  that  the  moon  or  the  sun 
swells  as  it  sinks  or  diminishes  in  volume  as  it  rises. 
Those  who  think  about  it  at  all,  say  that  the  greater 
length  of  atmosphere  through  which  one  sees  the  low  sun 
or  moon,  as  compared  with  the  high,  magnifies  the  disc  as 
a  lens  might  do.  This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  If  we 
take  a  photograph  of  the  moon  when  low  and  another  with 
the  same  instrument  and  the  same  focus  when  it  is  high, 

*  What  we  may  call  "  the  visual  size  "  of  the  sun  happens  to  be  owing  to 
its  far  greater  size  and  its  far  greater  distance  from  us— very  nearly  the 
same  as  that  of  the  moon — and  is  subject  to  the  same  numerical  law  of 
apparent  diameter,  viz.  a  disc  of  anv  given  measurement  in  diameter  will 
cover  it  exactly  when  held  at  a  distance  from  the  eye  which  is  115  times 
that  measurement. 


PLATE  V. — The  track  of  the  rising  moon  registered  by  continuous  exposure 
of  a  photographic  plate.  It  is  given  here  in  order  to  show  that  the  dia- 
meter of  the  visible  disc  of  the  moon  does  not  diminish  as  it  rises.  The 
slight  increase  in  the  breadth  of  the  track  registered  by  the  moon's  disc 
is  probably  due  to  a  little  distortion  caused  by  the  side  portion  of  the 
lens.  After  M.  Flammarion.  The  actual  width  of  the  moon's  disc 
as  printed  here  is  a  little  over  one  eighth  of  an  inch,  which,  if  we  regard 
it  as  "  a  picture"  and  not  merely  as  a  mechanical  record,  implies  that 
the  observer's  eye  is  only  about  143  inches  distant  from  the  picture 
plane  instead  of  the  more  usual  18  inches,  which  corresponds  to  a 
diameter  of  the  pictured  moon's  disc  of  between  -£th  and  -2th  of  an 
inch  ('156  inch). 


77 


PLATE  V. 


78  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

we  find  that  the  celestial  disc  produces  on  the  plate  (as  it 
does  on  our  eyes)  a  picture-disc   of  practically  the  same 
size  in  both  positions.      In  fact  the  high  moon  or  sun  pro- 
duces  a  picture-disc  of  a  little  larger  size  than   the  low 
moon  or  sun.      I  have  here  reproduced   (PL  V)   a  photo- 
graph, published  by  M.  Flammarion,   in   which  the   moon 
has  been  allowed  to   print  itself  on   a  photographic   plate 
exposed  during  the  time  the   moon   was   rising,   and   it   is 
seen  that  the  track   of  the   moon  has   not  diminished   in 
width  as  it  rose  higher  and  higher.      No  one  will   readily 
believe  this  ;  yet  it  is  a  demonstrable  fact.       Astronomers 
have  made  accurate  measurements  which  show  that  there 
is  no  diminution  of  the  disc  under  these  circumstances,  but 
a  slight  increase — since  the  moon  is  a  very  little  nearer  to 
us  when  overhead  than  when  we  see  it  across  the  horizon. 
If  we  put  a  piece  of  glass   coated  with  a  thin   layer  of 
water-colour  paint  into  a  frame,  and   then   make  a  peep- 
hole in  a  board  which  we  fix  upright  between  us  and  the 
upright  piece  of  framed   glass,  we  can   keep  the   framed 
glass  steady  (let  us  suppose  it  to  be  part  of  the  window 
of  a  room),  and   then   we  can  move  the  peep-hole  board 
back  from  it  into  the  room  to  measured  distances.      At  a 
distance  of  one  and  a  half  feet  from  the  framed  glass,  which 
is  that  at  which  an  artist  usually  has  his  eye  from  his  canvas 
or  paper,  we  can  trace  on  the  smeared  or  tinted  piece  of 
glass  the  outlines  of  things  seen  through  it  exactly  as  they 
fill  up  the  area  of  the  glass — men,  houses,  trees,  the  moon. 
The  moon's  disc  (and  the  same  is  true  of  the  sun)  is  found 
always  to  occupy  a  space  on  the  glass  which  is  Ty^th  of 
the  distance  of  the  eye  from  the  framed  glass  plate.      When 
the  eye-to-frame  distance  is  eighteen  inches,  the  diameter  of 
the  disc  of  the  moon  on  the   smeared  glass  will   occupy 
exactly  TT5~tn  °f  eighteen  inches,  which  is  between  one  sixth 
and  one  seventh  of  an  inch.      Similarly  if  the  peep-hole  is 
at  nine  and  a  half  feet  or  1 1 4  inches  from  the  framed  glass 


ERRORS  AS  TO  THE   SIZE   OF  THE   MOON    79 

(which  stands  for  us  as  the  equivalent  of  an  artist's  picture) 
the  moon  will  occupy  almost  exactly  one  inch  in  diameter 
—the  size  of  a  halfpenny.      With  such  a  simple  apparatus 
of  peep-hole  and  smeared  glass  in  an  upright  frame,  it  is 
easy  to  mark  off  the  size  covered   by  the  moon   (or  sun), 
whether  low  or  high,  on  the  smeared  glass,  and  it  is  found 
never  to  vary  whether  high  or  low — so  long  as  the  same 
"  eye-to-frame  "    or    "  peep-hole  "    distance    is    preserved. 
That  seems  to  be  an  important  fact  for  painters  of  sun- 
sets and  moon-rises.      But  what  do  they  do  ?     They  never 
give  the  right  size  (namely  one  sixth  of  an   inch)  which 
corresponds  to  an  eye-to-frame  distance  of  eighteen  inches. 
They   give   to  a  high   moon,   if  they  are  very  careful,   a 
quarter  of  an    inch    for  diameter.     This  means  that  the 
observer  is  about  two  and  a  half  feet,  or  thirty  inches  from 
the  picture — nearly  twice  what  the  artist's  eye  really  is  as 
he  paints.      And  then — if  painting  a  moon-rise  or  sunset— 
they  suddenly  pretend  to  go  to  a  distance  of  nine  and  a 
half  feet  from  the  picture  and   make  the  moon   an  inch 
across  because  it  is  low  down,  or  even  give  the  moon  two 
inches  in  diameter,  which  would  mean  that  they  (and  those 
who    look   at   the   picture   when   hung  up   for   view)  are 
observing  at  nineteen  feet  distance  from  the  front  plane  or 
frame  of  the  picture.     They  do  not  alter  the  other  features 
in  the  picture  to  suit  this  change  of  distance  of  the  eye 
from  the  frame  and  there  is  no  warning  given.      Certainly 
there  is  no  obvious  and   necessary  reason  for  treating  a 
picture  containing  a  high  moon  as  though  you  were  three 
feet  from  the  front  plane  of  the  scene  presented,  and  a  low 
moon  as  though  you  were  twenty  feet  from  that  plane ! 
The  confusion  which  may  result  in  the  representation  of 
other  objects  when  these  changes  of  eye-to-frame  distance 
are  made  is  shown  by  the  following  simple  facts.    According 
to  the  simple  laws  of  perspective,  if  the  eye  is  at  thirty 
inches  from  the  picture-plane  or  frame  (as  declared  by  a 


8o  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

moon  drawn  of  a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
broad),  a  post  or  a  man  six  feet  high  drawn  on  the  canvas 
as  three  inches  high  absolutely  and  definitely  means  that 
that  man  or  post  is  sixty  feet  away  from  the  observer 
inside  the  picture.  The  height  of  the  represented  object 
is  the  same  fraction  of  the  real  object  as  the  eye-to-frame 
distance  is  of  the  distance  of  the  observer  to  the  real  object. 
If  by  a  two-inch  moon  the  artist  has  thrown  you  back  from 
the  front  plane  of  the  scene  to  a  distance  of  nineteen  feet, 
then  the  six-foot  post  or  man  drawn  as  three  inches  high 
definitely  asserts  that  it  or  he  is  456  feet  distant  within 
the  picture.  So,  too,  if  the  church  tower  which  cuts  the 
moon  is  really  sixty  feet  high  and  is  drawn  of  two  inches 
vertical  measure  in  the  picture,  it  is  an  assertion — when 
the  moon  is  represented  one  quarter  of  an  inch  broad— 
that  the  church  tower  is  290  yards,  or  a  sixth  of  a  mile 
distant.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  other  things  remaining  the 
same,  the  moon  is  drawn  two  inches  in  diameter,  the  church 
tower  is  now  asserted  to  be  eight  times  as  far  off,  or  about 
a  mile  and  a  third.  Very  generally  these  facts  are  not 
considered  by  painters.  They  represent  the  low  moon  (or 
sun)  big  because  the  erroneous  mental  impression  is  common 
to  all  of  us  that  it  is  big — that  is,  bigger,  much  bigger, 
than  the  high  moon  or  sun,  and  they  do  not  follow  out 
the  consequences  in  perspective  of  the  pictorial  increase 
of  the  moon's  apparent  diameter. 

If  we  could  ascertain  why  it  is  that  the  low  moon  pro- 
duces a  false  impression  of  being  bigger — as  a  mere  disc 
in  the  scene — than  does  the  high  moon,  we  might  be  able 
to  discover  how  an  artist  could  produce,  as  Nature  does, 
an  impression  or  belief  in  its  greater  size  whilst  keeping 
it  all  the  time  to  its  proper  size.  The  explanation  of  the 
illusion  as  to  the  increased  size  of  the  sun's  or  moon's  disc 
when  low,  given  by  M.  Flammarion  and  other  astronomers, 
is  that  the  low  sun  or  moon  is  unconsciously  judged  by  us 


THE    PAINTER    AND    THE    MOON  Si 

as  an  object  at  a  greater  distance  than  the  high  moon  or 
sun.  This  is  due  to  the  long  vista  of  arching  clouds  above 
and  of  stretching  landscape  or  sea  below  when  the  sun  or 
moon  is  looked  at  as  it  appears  on  or  near  the  horizon. 
The  illusion  is  aided  by  the  dulness  of  the  low  moon  and 
the  brightness  (supposed  nearness)  of  the  high  moon. 
Being  judged  of  (unconsciously)  as  further  off  than  the 
high  moon,  the  low  moon  is  estimated  as  of  larger  size 
although  of  the  same  size.  This  is,  I  believe,  the  correct 
explanation  of  the  illusion.  When  one  gazes  upwards  to 
the  sky,  a  small  insect  slowly  flying  across  the  line  of 
sight  sometimes  is  "judged  of"  as  a  huge  bird — an  eagle 
or  a  vulture — since  we  refer  it  to  a  distance  at  which  birds 
fly  and  not  to  the  shorter  distance  to  which  insects 
approach  us.  It  seems  that  it  would  be  possible  for  the 
painter,  by  carefully  studying  actual  natural  facts  and 
introducing  their  presentation  into  his  picture,  to  produce 
the  impression  of  greater  distance,  and  therefore  of  size,  into 
a  quarter-inch  moon  placed  near  the  horizon.  He  is  not 
compelled  for  want  of  other  means  to  "  cut  the  difficulty  " 
and  paint  a  falsely  inflated  moon  which  shall  brutally  and  by 
measurement  call  up  the  illusion  of  increased  size.  I  repro- 
duce here  (Plate  VI)  an  interesting  drawing  which  shows 
how  such  illusions  of  size  can  be  produced.  It  is  none  the 
worse  for  my  purpose  because  it  is  an  advertisement  by  the 
well-known  firm  who  have  kindly  lent  it  to  me.  The  three 
figures  represented  in  black  are  all  of  the  same  height,  yet 
the  furthest  one  appears  to  be  much  taller  and  bigger  alto- 
gether than  the  middle  one,  and  the  middle  one  than  the 
nearest.  This  result  is  obtained  by  suggesting  distance  as 
separating  the  right-hand  figure  from  us,  whilst  giving  it 
exactly  the  same  height  as  the  others.  This  seems  to  me  to 
be  a  simple  case  of  an  illusion  of  increased  size  produced  by 
a  suggestion  of  increased  distance  when  all  the  time  there  is 
equality  in  size — as  in  the  case  of  the  moon  on  the  horizon 

6 


PLATE  VI. 


THE    MOON    ON    THE    STAGE  83 

compared  with  the  moon  overhead.  It  would  be  interest- 
ing to  see  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  a  competent  painter 
to  produce  in  this  way  (which  is,  I  believe,  Nature's  way) 
the  illusion  of  increased  size  in  a  low-lying  moon  without 
really  increasing  the  visual  size  of  his  painted  moon  as 
compared  with  one  in  another  picture  (to  be  painted  by 
him)  representing  the  moon  bright,  clear  and  small, 
overhead. 

The  theatrical  scene-painter  has  another  kind  of  diffi- 
culty with  the  low  moon  and  the  setting  sun.  He  can 
never  be  right  for  more  than  one  row  of  seats — one  dis- 
tance— in  the  theatre.  Here  there  is  no  peep-hole,  no 
frame  or  picture-plane.  The  observer  is  in  the  picture. 
If  the  moon  is  represented  by  an  illuminated  disc  one  foot 
in  diameter,  it  will,  when  looked  at  at  a  distance  of  1 1  5  feet, 
have  the  same  visual  size  as  the  moon  itself,  but  if  your 
seat  is  nearer  the  scene  it  will  look  too  large,  if  further  off 
it  will  look  too  small.  There  is  no  getting  over  this  diffi- 
culty, as  the  standard  of  actual  Nature  is  set  up  on  the 
stage  by  the  men  and  women  appearing  on  it  at  a  known 
distance.  It  used  to  be  asked  in  classical  times  by 
ingenious  puzzle-makers — "  What  is  the  size  of  the  moon?" 
A  true  answer  to  that  question  would  be  "  that  of  a  plate 
a  foot  in  diameter  seen  at  a  distance  of  a  hundred  and 
fifteen  feet." 

Plate  VI. — Drawing  of  three  figures — Lord  Lansdowne,  Mr.  Lloyd  George, 
and  Mr.  Asquith— showing  how  an  illusion  of  size  maybe  produced  in  a 
picture.  The  figure  of  Mr.  Asquith  is  of  the  same  actual  vertical 
measurement  as  that  of  Lord  Lansdowne,  viz.  two  inches  and  one 
eighth.  Yet  owing  to  the  position  in  which  the  three  figures  are  placed 
and  the  converging  lines — suggesting  perspective — the  drawing  of  Mr. 
Asquith  does  not  merely  represent  a  much  taller  man  than  does  that  of 
Lord  Lansdowne,  but  actually  gives  the  impression,  at  first  sight,  that 
the  little  black  figure  representing  Mr.  Asquith  is  longer  and  bigger 
altogether  than  that  representing  Lord  Lansdowne.  Yet  the  figures 
are  of  the  same  dimensions.  It  is  owing  to  illusion  of  the  same  nature 
that  the  disc  of  the  low  moon  appears  larger  than  that  of  the  high  moon. 


84  THE  PROBLEM  OF  THE  GALLOPING  HORSE 

To  a  large  extent  the  painter,  like  other  artists,  has  to 
produce  things  which  do  not  shock  common  opinion  and 
experience,  and  must  even  consciously  concede  to  that 
necessity,  and  make  the  sacrifice  of  objective  truth,  in 
order  to  secure  attention  for  his  higher  appeal  to  the  sense 
of  beauty,  to  emotion,  and  sentiment.  Approved  depar- 
tures by  the  artist  from  scientific  truth  are  those  which 
are  deliberately  made  in  order  to  give  emphasis — as,  for 
instance,  in  the  huge,  but  tender  hand  of  the  man  in  the 
emotional  masterpiece,  "  Le  Baiser,"  by  the  great  sculptor 
Rodin.  Another  departure  from  objective  truth,  which  is 
justified,  is  seen  in  Troyon's  picture  in  the  Louvre,  where 
the  false  drawing  and  exaggerated  size  of  the  leg  of  a 
calf  advancing  towards  the  observer  suggest,  and  almost 
give  the  illusion  of,  movement. 

But  it  can  hardly  be  maintained  that  any  and  all  the 
liberties  which  a  painter  or  a  whole  school  of  painters 
choose  to  take  with  fact  in  their  presentation  of  Nature — 
are  beyond  criticism.  It  is  possible  for  a  landscape 
painter  to  improve  in  his  treatment  of  the  moon  by  better 
observation  and  increased  knowledge — just  as  other 
painters  have  learnt  not  to  introduce  into  their  pictures 
the  sort  of  wooden  rocking-horse  to  stand  for  a  beautiful 
living  animal,  which  satisfied  Velasquez,  Carl  Vernet  and 
the  ancient  Egyptians. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  JEWEL  IN  THE  TOAD'S  HEAD 

TO  what    jewel    or    precious    stone  was    Shakespeare 
alluding  when  he  makes  the  exiled  Duke  in  "As  You 
Like    It  "   (after  praising  his   rough  life  in    the  forest  of 
Arden,  and  declaring  that  adversity  has  its  compensations), 
exclaim  : 

"  The  toad,  ugly  and  venomous, 
Wears  yet  a  precious  jewel  in  his  head  "  ? 

No  doubt  the  unprejudiced  reader  supposes  when  he 
reads  this  passage  that  there  is  some  stone  or  stone-like 
body  in  the  head  of  the  toad  which  has  a  special  beauty, 
or  else  was  believed  to  possess  magical  or  medicinal 
properties.  And  it  is  probable  that  Shakespeare  himself 
did  suppose  that  such  a  stone  existed.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  there  is  no  stone  or  "  jewel  "  of  any  kind  in  the  head 
of  the  common  toad  nor  of  any  species  of  toad — common 
or  rare.  This  is  a  simple  and  certain  result  of  the  careful 
examination  of  the  heads  of  innumerable  toads,  and  is  not 
merely  "  common  knowledge,"  but  actually  the  last  word 
of  the  scientific  expert.  In  these  days  of  "  nature  study  " 
writers  familiar  with  toads  and  frogs  and  kindred  beasts 
have  puzzled  over  Shakespeare's  words,  and  suggested  that 
he  was  really  referring  to  the  beautiful  eyes  of  the  toad, 
which  are  like  gems  in  colour  and  brilliance. 

This,  however,  is  not  the  case.  Shakespeare  himself 
was  simply  making  use  of  what  was  considered  to  be 


86         THE  JEWEL   IN  THE  TOAD'S   HEAD 

"  common  knowledge  "  in  his  day  when  he  made  the  Duke 
compare  adversity  to  the  toad  with  a  magic  jewel  in  its 
head,  commonly  known  as  "  a  toad-stone,"  although  that 
"  common  knowledge  "  was  really  not  knowledge  at  all, 
but — like  an  enormous  mass  of  the  accepted  current 
statements  in  those  times,  about  animals,  plants  and  stones 
— was  an  absolutely  baseless  invention.  Such  baseless 
beliefs  were  due  to  the  perfectly  innocent  but  reckless  habit 
of  mankind,  thoughout  long  ages,  of  exaggerating  and 
building  up  marvellous  narrations  on  the  one  hand,  and  on 
the  other  hand  of  believing  without  any  sufficient  inquiry, 
and  with  delight  and  enthusiasm,  such  marvellous  narra- 
tions set  down  by  others.  Each  writer  or  "  gossip  " 
concerning  the  wonders  of  unexplored  nature,  consciously 
or  unconsciously,  added  a  little  to  the  story  as  received  by 
him,  and  so  the  authoritative  statements  as  to  marvels  grew 
more  and  more  astonishing  and  interesting. 

It  was  not  until  the  time  of  Shakespeare  himself  that 
another  spirit  began  to  assert  itself — namely,  that  of 
asking  whether  a  prevalent  belief  or  tradition  is  actually  a 
true  statement  of  fact.  Men  proceeded  to  test  the  belief 
by  an  examination  of  the  thing  in  question,  and  not  by 
merely  adducing  the  assertions  of  "  the  learned  so-and-so," 
or  of  "  the  ingenious  Mr.  Dash."  This  spirit  of  inquiry 
actually  existed  in  a  fairly  active  state  among  the  more 
cultivated  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  Aristotle  (who  flourished 
about  350  B.C.),  though  he  could  not  free  himself  altogether 
from  the  primitive  tendency  to  accept  the  marvellous  as 
true  because  it  is  marvellous  and  without  regard  to  its 
probability — in  fact  because  of  its  improbability — yet  on 
the  whole  showed  a  determination  to  investigate,  and  to 
see  things  for  himself,  and  left  in  his  writings  an  immense 
series  of  first-rate  original  observations.  He  had  far  more 
of  the  modern  scientific  spirit  than  had  the  innumerable 
credulous  writers  of  Western  Europe  who  lived  fifteen 


THE    DECAY    OF    CREDULITY  87 

hundred  to  two  thousand  years  after  him.  Even  that 
delightful  person  Herodotus,  who  preceded  Aristotle  by 
a  hundred  years,  occasionally  took  the  trouble  to  inquire 
into  some  of  the  wonders  he  heard  of  on  his  travels, 
and  is  careful  to  say  now  and  then  that  he  does  not 
believe  what  he  heard.  But  the  mediaeval-makers  of 
"  bestiaries,"  herbals,  and  treatises  on  stones,  which  were 
-collections  of  every  possible  fancy  and  "  old-wife's  tale," 
about  animals,  plants,  and  minerals,  mixed  up  with  Greek 
and  Arabic  legends  and  the  mystical,  medical  lore  of  the 
4  Physiologus  ' — that  Byzantine  cyclopaedia  of  "  wisdom 
while  you  wait  " — deliberately  discarded  all  attempt  to  set 
down  the  truth  ;  they  simply  gave  that  up  as  a  bad  job, 
and  recorded  every  strange  story,  property  and  "  applica- 
tion "  (as  they  termed  it)  of  natural  objects  with  solemn 
assurance,  adding  a  bit  of  their  own  invention  to  the 
gathered  and  growing  mass  of  preposterous  misunder- 
standing and  superstition. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  the  opposition  to  this  method 
of  omnivorous  credulity  (which  even  to-day,  in  spite  of  all 
our  "  progress,"  flourishes  among  both  the  rich  and  the 
poor)  crystallised  in  the  purpose  of  the  Royal  Society  of 
London  for  the  Improvement  of  Natural  Knowledge — 
whose  motto  was,  and  is,  " Nnllius  in  verba"  (that  is,  "  \Ye 
accept  no  man's  bare  assertion  "),  and  whose  original  first 
rule,  to  be  observed  at  its  meetings,  was  that  no  one 
should  discourse  of  his  opinions  or  narrate  a  marvel, 
but  that  any  member  who  wished  to  address  the  society 
should  "  bring  in,"  that  is  to  say,  "  exhibit "  an  experi- 
ment or  an  actual  specimen.  A  new  spirit,  the  "scientific" 
spirit,  gave  rise  to  and  was  nourished  by  this  and  similar 
societies  of  learned  men.  As  a  consequence  the  absur- 
dities and  the  cruel  and  injurious  beliefs  in  witchcraft, 
astrology,  and  baseless  legend,  melted  away  like  clouds 
before  the  rising  sun.  In  the  place  of  the  mad  nightmare 


88         THE  JEWEL   IN  THE   TOAD'S   HEAD 

of  fantastic  ignorance,  there  grew  up  the  solid  body  of 
unassailable  knowledge  of  Nature  and  of  man  which  we 
call  "  science  " — a  growth  which  made  such  prodigious 
strides  in  the  last  century  that  we  now  may  be  truly  said 
to  live  in  the  presence  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  ! 
It  was,  then,  a  real  "  stone,"  called  the  toad-stone,  to 
which  Shakespeare  alluded.  It  is  mentioned  in  various 
old  treatises  concerning  the  magical  and  medicinal 
properties  of  gems  and  stones  under  its  Latin  name, 
"  Bufonius  lapis"  and  was  also  called  Borax,  Nosa, 
Crapondinus,  Crapaudina,  Chelonitis,  and  Batrachites.  It 
was  also  called  Grateriano  and  Garatronius,  after  a  gentle- 
man named  Gratterus,  who  in  1473  found  a  very  large 
one,  reputed  to  have  marvellous  power.  In  1657,  m  the 
"  translation  by  a  person  of  quality  "  of  the  *  Thaumato- 
graphia  '  of  a  Polish  physician  named  Jonstonus,  we  find 
written  of  it  :  "  Toads  produce  a  stone,  with  their  own 
image  sometimes.  It  hath  very  great  force  against 
malignant  tumours  that  are  venomous.  They  are  used  to 
heat  it  in  a  bag,  and  to  lay  it  hot,  without  anything 
between,  to  the  naked  body,  and  to  rub  the  affected  place 
with  it.  They  say  it  prevails  against  inchantments  of 
witches,  especially  for  women  and  children  bewitched. 
So  soon  as  you  apply  it  to  one  bewitched  it  sweats  many 
drops.  In  the  plague  it  is  laid  to  the  heart  to  strengthen 
it."  Another  physician  of  the  same  period  (see  *  Notes 
and  Queries,'  fourth  series,  vol.  vii,  1871,  p.  54°)  appears 
to  be  affected  by  the  new  spirit  of  inquiry,  for  he  relates 
the  old  traditions  about  the  stone  and  how  he  tested  them. 
He  says  it  was  reported  that  the  stone  could  be  cut  out 
of  the  toad's  head.  (In  the  book  called  '  Hortus 
Sanitatis,'  dated  1490,  there  is  a  picture  here  reproduced 
[Fig.  4]  of  a  gentleman  performing  this  operation  success- 
fully on  a  gigantic  toad.)  Our  sceptical  physician, 
however,  goes  on  to  say  that  it  was  commonly  believed 


A    SCEPTICAL    PHYSICIAN  89 

that  these  stones  are  thrown  out  of  the  mouth  by  old 
toads  (probably  the  tongue  was  mistaken  for  the  stone), 
and  that  if  toads  are  placed  on  a  piece  of  red  cloth  they 
will  eject  their  "  toad-stones,"  but  rapidly  swallow  them 
again  before  one  can  seize  the  precious  gem  !  He  says 
that  when  he  was  a  boy  he  procured  an  aged  toad  and 


FIG.  4. — Representation  of  a  man  extracting  the  jewel  from  a  toad's 
head;  two  "jewels"  already  extracted  are  seen  dropping  to  the 
ground.  From  the  '  Hortus  Sanitatis,'  published  in  1490. 

placed  it  on  a  red  cloth  in  order  to  obtain  possession  of 
"  the  stone."  He  sat  up  watching  the  toad  all  night,  but 
the  toad  did  not  eject  anything.  "  Since  that  time,"  he 
says,  "  I  have  always  regarded  as  humbug  ('  badineries  ') 
all  that  they  relate  of  the  toad-stone  and  of  its  origin." 
He  then  describes  the  actual  stone  which  passes  as  the 
toad-stone,  or  Bufonins  lapis,  and  says  that  it  is  also 


go         THE  JEWEL   IN  THE   TOAD'S   HEAD 

called  batrachite,  or  brontia,  or  ombria.  His  description 
exactly  corresponds  with  the  "  toad-stones  "  which  are 
well  known  at  the  present  day  in  collections  of  old  rings. 

I  have  examined  twelve  of  these  rings  in  the  British 
Museum,  through  the  kindness  of  Sir  Charles  Read,  P.S.A., 
the  Keeper  of  Mediaeval  Antiquities,  and  four  in  the 
Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford.  Two  of  these  are  of 
chalcedony,  with  a  figure  of  a  toad  roughly  carved  on  the 
stone,  and  are  of  a  character  and  origin  different  from  the 
others.  The  others,  which  are  the  true  and  recognised 
"  toad-stone "  or  "  lapis  fiu/onms"  are  circular,  slightly 
convex  "  stones,"  of  a  drab  colour,  with  a  smooth, 
enamel-like  surface.  They  are  plate-like  discs,  being  of 
thin  substance  and  concave  on  the  lower  surface,  which 
has  an  upstanding  rim.  I  recognised  them  at  once  as  the 
palatal  teeth  of  a  fossil  fish  called  "  Lepidotus,"  common  in 
our  own  oolitic  and  wealden  strata,  and  in  rocks  of  that 
age  all  over  the  world.  I  give  in  Fig.  5  a  drawing  of 
a  complete  set  of  these  teeth  and  of  a  single  one  detached. 
They  were  white  and  colourless  in  life,  but  are  stained  of 
various  colours  according  to  the  nature  of  the  rock  in 
which  they  are  embedded.  A  drab  colour  like  that  of  the 
skin  of  the  common  toad  is  given  to  them  by  the  iron 
salts  present  in  many  oolitic  rocks  ;  those  found  in  the 
wealden  of  the  Isle  of  Wight  are  black.  That  the  "  toad- 
stones  "  mounted  in  ancient  rings  are  really  the  teeth  of  a 
fish  has  been  already  recorded  by  the  Rev.  R.  H.  Newell 
('The  Zoology  of  the  English  Poets,'  1845),  but  he 
seems  to  be  mistaken  in  identifying  them  with  those  of 
the  wolf-fish  (Anarrhicas).  They  undoubtedly  are  the 
palatal  teeth  of  the  fossil  extinct  ganoid  fish  Lepidotus. 

Before  leaving  the  queer  inventions  and  assertions  of 
the  old  writers  about  these  fossil  teeth,  which  they 
declared  to  be  taken  out  of  the  toad's  head,  let  me  quote 
one  delightful  passage  from  a  contemporary  of  Shakespeare 


HOW    TO    TEST    A    TOAD-STONE  gi 

(Lupton,  *  A  thousand  notable  things  of  sundry  sortes. 
Whereof  some  are  wonderful,  some  strange,  some  pleasant, 
divers  necessary,  a  great  sort  profitable,  and  many  very 
precious,'  London,  1595).  "You  shall  know,"  he  says, 
"  whether  the  Toadstone  called  *  crapaudina  '  be  the  right 
and  perfect  stone  or  not.  Hold  the  stone  before  a  toad, 
so  that  he  may  see  it.  And  if  it  be  a  right  and  true 


FIG.  5. — The  palate  of  the  fossil  fish  Lepidotus,  showing  the  stud- 
like  teeth  in  position.  These  are  often  found  singly,  and  stained 
of  a  dull  brown  colour  by  the  rock  in  which  they  were  embedded. 
It  was  the  colour  of  these  fossil  teeth,  like  that  of  a  toad's  body, 
which  led  to  the  assertion  that  they  were  produced  in  the  head  of 
the  toad.  a.  A  single  detached  tooth  or  "  toad-stone"  seen  from 
the  bright  unattached  surface,  b.  The  same  seen  from  the  attached 
surface,  c.  A  section  of  the  tooth  showing  its  cup-like  shape. 
(Original  drawings.) 

stone,  the  toad  will  leap  towards  it  and  make  as  though 
he  would  snatch  it  from  you  ;  he  envieth  so  much  that  a 
man  should  have  that  stone.  This  was  credibly  told 


92    THE  JEWEL  IN  THE  TOAD'S  HEAD 

Mizaldus  for  truth  by  one  of  the  French  King's  physicians, 
which  affirmed  that  he  did  see  the  trial  thereof." 

We  have  thus  before  us  the  actual  things  called  toad- 
stones,  and  believed  by  Shakespeare  and  his  contemporaries 
to  be  found  in  the  head  of  the  toad.  How  did  it  come 
about  that  these  pretty  little  button-like,  drab-coloured 
fossil  teeth  were  given  such  an  erroneous  history?  This 
question  was  answered  by  the  late  Rev.  C.  W.  King,  Fellow 
of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  in  his  book  on  '  Antique 
Gems  '  (London,  I  860).  He  says,  "  I  am  not  aware  if  any 
substance  of  a  stony  nature  is  ever  now  discovered  within 
the  head  or  body  of  the  toad.  Probably  the  whole  story 
originated  in  the  name  Batrachites  (frog-stone  or  toad- 
stone),  given  in  Pliny  to  a  gem  brought  from  Coptos,  and 
so  called  from  its  resemblance  to  that  animal  in  colour." 
We  have  not,  it  must  be  noted,  any  specimens  of  the 
toad-stone  at  the  present  day  actually  known  to  have  been 
brought  from  Coptos.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  fossil 
fish-tooth  was  substituted  ages  ago  for  Pliny's  Batrachites, 
and  was  never  found  at  Coptos  at  all !  Whether  that  is  so 
or  not,  the  fact  is  that  Pliny  never  said  it  came  out  of  a 
toad,  but  merely  that  it  was  of  the  colour  of  a  toad. 

The  Pliny  referred  to  is  Pliny  the  Elder,  the  celebrated 
Roman  naturalist  who  wrote  a  great  treatise  on  natural 
history,  which  we  still  possess,  and  died  in  A.D.  79  whilst 
visiting  the  eruption  of  Vesuvius.  He  says  nothing  of 
the  Batrachites  being  found  inside  the  toad,  nor  does  he 
mention  its  medicinal  virtues.  The  name  alone — simply 
the  name  "  Batrachites,"  the  Greek  for  toad-stone — was 
sufficient  to  lead  the  fertile  imagination  of  the  mediaeval 
doctors  to  invent  all  the  other  particulars  !  It  is  a  case  pre- 
cisely similar  to  that  of  the  old  lady  who  was  credited  with 
having  vomited  "  three  black  crows."  When  the  report  was 
traced  step  by  step  to  its  source  it  was  found  that  her  nurse 
had  stated  that  she  vomited  something  as  black  as  a  crow  ! 


OTHER    MAGICAL    STONES  93 

The  belief  in  the.  existence  of  a  stone  of  magical  proper- 
ties in  the  head  of  the  toad  is  only  one  of  many  instances 
of  beliefs  of  a  closely  similar  kind  which  were  accepted  by 
Pliny  (although  he  records  no  such  belief  as  to  the  toad- 
stone),  and  were  passed  on  from  his  treatise  on  natural 
history  in  a  more  or  less  muddled  form  to  the  middle  ages, 
and  so  to  our  own  time  by  later  writers.      Thus  Pliny  cites, 
as  .  stones    possessing    magical    properties,    the   "  Bronte  " 
found  in  the  head  of  the  tortoise,  the  Cinaedia  in  the  head 
of  a  fish  of  that  name,  the  Chelonites,  a  grass-green  stone 
found  in  a  swallow's  belly,  the  Draconites,  which  must  be 
cut  out  of  the  head  of  a  live  serpent,  the  Hyaenia  from  the 
eye  of  the  Hyaena,  and  the  Saurites  from  the  bowels  of  a 
green  lizard.     All  these  and  the  Echites,  or  viper-stone, 
were  credited  with  extraordinary  magical  virtues,  and  many 
of  the  assertions  of  later  writers  about  the  toad-stone  are 
clearly   due  to   their   having  calmly  transferred  the  mar- 
vellous stories  about  other  imaginary  stones  to  the  imagi- 
nary toad-stone.      The  only  stone  in  the  above  list  which 
has  a  real  existence  is  that  in  the  fish's  head.      Fish  have 
a  pair  of  beautiful  translucent  stones  in  their  heads — the 
ear-stones  or  otoliths — by  the  laminated  structure  of  which 
we  now  can  determine  the  age  of  a  fish  just  as  a  tree's  age 
is  told  by  the  annual  rings  of  growth  in  the  wood  of  its 
stem.     The  fresh-water  crayfish  has  a  very  curious  pair  of 
opaque  stones  (concretions  of  carbonate  and  phosphate  of 
lime)  formed  in  its  gizzard  as  a  normal  and  regular  thing. 
They  are  familiar  to  every  student  who  dissects  a  crayfish, 
and  I  am  told   that  in  Germany  to-day,  as   m  old   times 
also,  the  "  krebstein  "  is  regarded   by  the  country-folk  as 
possessed  of  medicinal  and  magical  properties.      I  am  not 
able,   on   the  present  occasion,  to  trace  out  the  possible 
origin  of  all  the  stories  and  beliefs  about  stones  occurring 
within  animals.     They  are  more  numerous  than  those  cited 
by  Pliny  ;  they  exist  in  every  race  and  every  civilisation 


94         THE  JEWEL  IN  THE  TOAD'S  HEAD 

and  refer  to  a  large  variety  of  animals.  Probably  many  of 
these  beliefs  date  from  prehistoric  times.  In  the  East  the 
most  celebrated  of  these  stones,  since  the  period  of  Arabic 
civilisation,  is  called  a  bezoar-stone.  "  Bezoar "  is  the 
Persian  word  for  "  antidote,"  and  does  not  apply  only  to  a 
stone.  The  true  and  original  "  bezoar-stone  "  of  the  East 
is  a  concretion  found  in  the  intestine  of  the  Persian  wild 
goat.  Those  which  I  have  seen  are  usually  of  the  size 
and  shape  of  a  pigeon's  egg  and  of  a  fine  mahogany  colour, 
with  a  smooth,  polished  surface.  The  Persian  goat's 
bezoar-stone  is  found,  on  chemical  analysis,  to  consist  of 
"  ellagic  acid,"  an  acid  allied  to  gallic  acid,  the  vegetable 
astringent  product  which  occurs  in  oak-galls  used  until 
lately  in  the  manufacture  of  ink.  The  bezoar-stone  is 
probably  a  concretion  formed  in  the  intestine  from  some  of 
the  undigested  portions  of  the  goat's  food.  Such  concre- 
tions are  not  uncommon,  and  occur  even  in  man.  "Bezoar- 
stones  "  are  obtained  in  the  East  from  deer,  antelopes,  and 
even  monkeys,  as  well  as  goats,  and  must  have  a  different 
chemical  nature  in  each  case.  Minute  scrapings  from 
these  stones  are  used  in  the  East  as  medicine,  and  their 
chemical  qualities  render  their  use  not  altogether  absurd, 
though  they  probably  have  not  any  really  valuable  action. 
It  is  probable  that  their  use  had  a  later  origin  than  that  of 
the  "stones"  connected  with  magic  and  witchcraft.  Six- 
teenth century  writers,  ever  ready  to  invent  a  history  when 
their  knowledge  was  defective,  declared  the  bezoar-stone  to 
be  formed  by  the  inspissated  tears  of  the  deer  or  of  the 
gazelle — the  "  gum "  which  Hamlet  remarked  in  aged 
examples  of  the  human  species. 

The  substance  called  "  ambergris  "  (grey  amber),  valued 
to-day  as  a  perfume,  is  a  faecal  concretion  similar  to  a 
bezoar-stone.  It  is  formed  in  the  intestine  of  the  sperm- 
whale,  and  contains  fragments  of  the  hard  parts  of  cuttle- 
fishes, which  are  the  food  of  these  whales.  "  Hair-balls  " 


MEDICINAL    AND    MAGICAL    STONES        95 

are  formed  in  the  intestines  of  various  large  vegetarian 
animals — and  occasionally  stony  concretions  of  various 
chemical  composition  are  formed  in  the  urinary  bladder 
of  various  animals,  as  well  as  of  man.  The  "  eagle-stone  " 
is  also  a  concretion  to  which  magical  properties  were 
ascribed.  I  have  seen  a  specimen,  but  do  not  know  its 
history  and  origin.  Glass  beads  found  in  prehistoric 
burial-places  are  called  by  old  writers  "  adders'  eggs,"  and 
"  adder-stones,"  and  were  said  (it  is  improbable  that  one 
should  say  "  believed  ")  to  hatch  out  young  adders  when 
incubated  with  sufficiently  silly  ceremonies  and  observ- 
ances, A  celebrated  "  stone  "  of  medicinal  reputation  in 
the  East  is  the  "  goa-stone."  This  is  a  purely  artificial 
product — a  mass  of  the  size  and  shape  of  a  large  egg, 
consisting  of  some  very  fine  and  soft  powder  like  fullers'- 
earth,  sweetly  scented,  and  over-laid  with  gold-leaf.  A 
very  little  is  rubbed  off,  mixed  with  water,  and  swallowed, 
as  a  remedy  for  many  diseases.  The  deep  connection  of 
medicine  with  magic,  throwing  light  on  the  strange 
applications  of  stones  and  hairs,  bones  and  skins,  by 
imaginative  mankind,  in  all  ages  and  places,  is  exhibited 
in  the  common  practice  of  writing  with  ink  a  sentence  of 
the  Koran  (or  other  sacred  words)  on  a  tablet,  washing  off 
the  ink,  and  making  the  patient  swallow  the  water  in 
which  the  sacred  phrase  has  been  thus  dissolved  !  How 
convenient  it  would  be  were  it  possible  thus  to  impart 
knowledge,  virtue,  and  health  to  suffering  humanity  ! 

A  good  example  of  one  of  the  ways  in  which  magical 
properties  became  attributed  to  natural  objects  is  the  stone 
known  as  amethyst.  The  ancient  Indian  name  of  this 
stone  had  the  sound  represented  by  its  present  name.  In 
Greek  this  sound  happens  to  mean  "  not  intoxicated  "  ; 
hence,  without  more  ado,  the  ancients  declared  that  the 
amethyst  was  a  preventive  of,  and  a  cure  for,  drunkenness. 


CHAPTER    VII 
FERN-SEED 


FIG.  6. — Under-surface  of  the  frond  of  the  common  Polypody  fern, 
showing  the  circular  spore-cases  arranged  in  rows. 

"  A  1[  TE  have  the  receipt  of  fern-seed;  we  walk  invisible," 
V  V  says  one  of  Prince  Hal's  rollicking  companions 
in  Shakespeare's  play  of  "Henry  IV."  Ben  Jonson,  in  the 
'New  Inn,'  makes  one  of  his  characters  say,  "I  had  no 
medicine,  sir,  to  go  invisible,  no  fern-seed  in  my  pocket." 
About  the  same  time  (1613)  we  read  in  a  romantic  poem 


INVISIBLE    SEED  97 

of  "The  wondrous  one-night  seeding  Feme."  Butler,  in 
'Hudibras,'  writes,  "That  spring-like  fern,  that  insect  weed, 
equivocally  without  seed."  And  as  late  as  Addison's 
'Tatler'  we  are  told  of  a  quack  advertising  that  he  "had 
^discovered  the  female  fern-seed."  This  is  all  very  puzzling 
to  an  age  which  has  lost,  almost  entirely,  the  amazing 
traditions  and  superstitions  which  were  current  in  the 
Middle  Ages  concerning  every  plant,  stone,  and  animal. 
These  traditions  were  dressed  up,  perverted,  and  confused 
survivals  of  the  still  earlier  beliefs  of  innocent  country-folk 
throughout  primitive  and  prehistoric  Europe  and  the  East, 
some  of  them  based  on  real  experience  and  fact,  others 
purely  fanciful,  or  the  outcome  of  a  primitive  system  of 
magic  and  witchcraft. 

The  puzzling  thing  to  the  modern  man  about  the  fern- 
seed  tradition,  namely,  that  the  seed  of  the  fern  is  invisible, 
and  confers  invisibility  upon  whomsoever  may  gain  posses- 
sion of  some  of  it  and  carry  it  in  his  pocket,  is  that  so  far 
is  fern-seed  from  being  invisible  that  every  school-boy  and 
school-girl  knows  the  spore-cases  of  the  ferns,  the  little 
brown  circular  or  oblong  patches  which  appear  on  the  back 
of  the  fern-leaf  or  frond  when  mature  (Fig.  6).  These 
certainly  have  the  appearance  of  being  "seeds,"  that  is  to 
say,  reproductive  particles  to  be  shed  by  the  fern,  which, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  (though  not  seeds  in  the  strictly 
botanical  sense),  and  it  is  astonishing  that  they  were  not 
recognised  by  our  forefathers. 

It  is  difficult  at  the  present  day  to  come  across  anyone 
who  knows  or  has  heard  of  "fern-seed"  and  its  marvellous 
properties.  Yet  it  was  a  belief  of  the  ancient  inhabitants 
of  Britain  and  of  the  French  Bretagne,  which  they  colonised, 
that  anyone  who  could  obtain  possession  of  some  "fern- 
seed"  would  become  invisible  and  receive  knowledge  of  all 
secrets.  The  belief  was  widely  spread  in  this  country 
throughout  mediaeval  times,  and  persisted  till  the  end  of 

7 


98  FERN-SEED 

the  eighteenth  century.  As  late  as  1793  a  respectable 
countryman  at  Heston,  Middlesex,  informed  an  inquirer 
that  when  he  was  a  young  man  he  had  frequently  taken 
part  in  catching  the  "fern-seed"  at  midnight  on  the  eve 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist.  The  attempt  to  catch  it  was,  he 
said,  often  unsuccessful,  for  a  plate  had  to  be  placed  beneath 
the  fern,  and  the  seed  must  fall  into  it  "of  its  own  accord," 
without  any  shaking  of  the  plant.  Another  searcher  of 
fern-seed  reports  that  the  seed  must  be  looked  for  on 
Midsummer's  Eve,  and  that  the  searcher  must  go  barefoot, 
and  with  no  other  clothing  than  a  shift.  He  stated  that 
when  he  went  to  gather  it  the  "spirits"  (presumably  moths 
or  other  nocturnal  insects)  whisked  by  his  ears,  and  some- 
times struck  his  hat  and  various  parts  of  his  body.  At 
length,  when  he  thought  he  had  gathered  a  good  quantity 
of  it  and  secured  it  in  paper  and  a  box,  he  went  home.  But 
on  examining  the  paper  and  the  box  he  found  both  empty ! 
He  does  not  say  how  he  expected  to  detect  its  presence, 
being  a  thing  invisible!  That  appears  to  have  been  a 
distinctive  and  curious  feature  about  capturing  fern-seed. 
The  ancients  (Greeks  and  Romans)  held  that  there  was 
no  such  thing,  that  ferns  did  not  produce  any  seed.  As  to 
how  they  propagated  no  decisive  opinion  existed.  The 
mediaeval  folk  improved  upon  this.  They  said,  "Ferns  must 
reproduce  by  seed  as  other  plants  do,  and  since  the  ancients 
say  that  ferns  have  no  seed,  that  must  be  due  to  the  fact 
that  the  seed  is  there,  but  is  invisible ! "  Accordingly,  they 
firmly  held  that  ferns  produce  invisible  seed,  and  then  added 
to  this  conception,  in  accordance  with  the  doctrine  of  signa- 
tures, the  assertion  that  he  who  gained  possession  of  some 
of  this  invisible  seed  would  himself  become  invisible.  The 
delightful  absurdity  of  hunting  on  midsummer's  night  for 
invisible  seed,  as  to  your  success  in  finding  which  you  could 
never  come  to  any  conclusion  except  by  yourself  becoming 
invisible,  seems  to  have  taken  firm  hold  on  those  who  loved 


THE    SPORES    OF    FERNS  gg 

nocturnal  rambles  on  summer  nights  in  mixed  company, 
and  to  have  suited  the  mystifications  and  chicanery  of  the 
wizards  and  magicians  of  the  day.  The  pursuit  of  fern- 
seed  suggests  Lord  Bowen's  evocation  of  "a  blind  man  in 
a  dark  room  seeking  for  a  black  cat — which  is  not  there,"  to 
which  combination  he  compared  the  study  of  metaphysics. 
The  most  delightful  piece  of  absurdity  in  the  whole 
affair  is,  as  I  have  already  pointed  out,  that  ferns  of  all 
kinds  do  produce  a  sort  of  seed — the  brown  or  yellow 
circular  or  oblong  up-growths  (Fig.  6)  on  the  under  surface 
of  their  leaves,  which  are  little  cases  filled  with  "  spores." 
They  do  not  ripen  till  full  summer  or  autumn,  and  on  St. 
John's  Eve,  when  the  fern-seed  hunter  went  forth,  they  are 
truly  enough  invisible,  and  practically  non-existent.  These 
spore  capsules  were  well  enough  known  to  the  early 
botanists,  though  they  escaped  common  knowledge.  They 
differ  characteristically  in  number,  shape  and  size,  in  such 
common  British  ferns  as  the  bracken,  the  male  fern,  the 
polypody,  and  the  hart's  tongue.  One  reason  probably 
for  their  not  being  associated  in  popular  estimation  with 
the  reproduction  of  the  fern  is  that  the  spores — minute 
oval  bodies  contained  in  the  capsules — do  not  readily 
germinate,  and,  when  they  do,  do  not  at  once  give  rise  to 
anything  like  a  young  fern  or  to  the  seedling  of  an  ordinary 
plant.  When  sown  on  a  moist  surface  in  a  damp,  warmish 
atmosphere,  the  spores  of  a  fern  (Fig.  7,  A)  give  rise  each 
to  a  delicate  hair-like  filament  (7)  which  pushes  from  one 
end  of  the  oblong  spore  (as  shown  in  the  drawings  B,  C,  D). 
It  consists  of  a  chain  of  "  cells,"  nucleated  corpuscles  of 
protoplasm,  which  multiply  by  transverse  fission  of  the 
leading  cell  (i,  2,  3,  4,  5  in  the  figure).  In  these  delicate 
cells  appear  rounded  particles  of  leaf-green  or  chlorophyll, 
that  important  substance  by  the  aid  of  which  green  plants 
feed  on  carbonic  acid.  These  "  first-threads  "  are  so  minute 
as  to  be  hardly  noticeable,  as  they  lie  on  the  surface  of  the 


100 


FERN-SEED 


mould  on  to  which  they  have  been  shed  by  the  fern. 
When  the  little  thread  is  about  an  eighth  of  an  inch  long, 
and  consists  of  some  half  dozen  cells  arranged  in  a  row, 
the  front  cells  divide,  not  transversely,  but  parallel  to  the 
length  of  the  thread  (Fig.  7,  D),  and  this  mode  of  growth 
and  division,  combined  with  the  transversal  one,  continues 
until  a  little  green  plate  or  flat  expansion  consisting  of 


B 


FIG.  7.—  Germination  of  the  spore  of  a  fern.  A.  A  single  spore 
about  -^oth  of  an  inch  in  diameter.  B.  The  protoplasm  bursts 
from  the  spore-coat,  S.C.,  and  sends  out  a  filament-like  growth,  T. 
In  the  third  drawing,  marked  c,  this  becomes  a  rooting  filament, 
and  the  rest  has  divided  into  five  cells,  1-5,  containing  chloro- 
phyll grains.  D.  The  front  cells  are  now  dividing  laterally  as  well 
as  transversely.  E.  The  prothallus  or  Marchantia-like  growth, 
twice  the  natural  diameter. 

conjoined  cells  is  produced  of  about  half  the  size  of  a 
threepenny  piece  (E).  It  is  not  circular,  but  more  or  less 
heart-shaped  or  bilobed.  This  curious  little  growth  must 
have  a  name.  It  is  called  the  "  prothallus  "  of  the  fern,  or 
sometimes — on  account  of  its  resemblance  to  the  encrusta- 
tions formed  on  damp  rocks  and  ditch-walls  by  the  little 


THE    PROTHALLUS    OF    FERNS 


101 


liver-wort  or  Marchantia — it  is  called  the  Marchantia-like 
growth. 

The  botanists  of  some  two  hundred  years  ago — (such 
as  John  Ray  [1670],  who  ridiculed  a  botanical  friend  for 
trying  to  catch  fern  seed  on  a  sheet  spread  out  on  Mid- 
summer's Night,  when  the  spore-cases  have  not  yet  come 
into  existence) — raised  these  flat  green  growths  from  spores 
sown  on  damp  mould,  and  were  at  first  puzzled  by  getting 


-rh 


pIG  g, A<  Underside  of  the  prothallus  of  a  fern  showing — rh.,  root- 

filaments ;  an.,  sperm-sacs  or  antheridia,  and  ar.,  egg-pits  or 
archegonia.  Magnified  about  four  times  linear.  B.  A  prothallus 
showing  the  young  fern  (b.)  springing  from  it ;  TV.,  root-axis  of  the 
young  fern  ;  rh.,  root-filaments  of  the  prothallus. 

no  further  result.  It,  at  any  rate,  was  clear  that  there  was 
some  excuse  for  the  rustics  who  found  no  obvious  connection 
between  the  contents  of  the  spore-cases  and  the  production 
of  a  new  generation  of  ferns,  for  the  thing  which  grew 
from  the  spore  was  not  a  fern  !  But  then  the  observations 
were  carried  further,  and  it  was  shown  first  in  1/15, 
and  again  later  in  I  7  8  5 ,  that  from  the  substance  of  the 
flat  green  expansion  or  prothallus,  after  an  interval  of  time 


102  FERN-SEED 

delicate  young  fern-fronds  of  minute  size  shoot  up  by 
vertical  growth  (Fig.  8,  B).  The  method  of  the  reproduc- 
tion of  ferns  and  the  proof  of  the  seed-like  nature  of  the 
spores  was  now  regarded  as  at  last  demonstrated.  The 
mystery  of  "  fern-seed"  was  thought  to  be  at  an  end.  But 
this  was  really  far  from  the  case. 

It  seems  to  many  of  us  a  commonplace — though  doubt- 
less it  is  news  to  some — that  flowering  plants  produce 
"  germs,"  or  egg-cells  in  the  centre  of  the  flowers — in  that 
part  called  the  pistil — and  that  the  heads  of  the  stamens 
produce  a  powder  of  fine  granules  called  the""  pollen-grains," 
which  either  fall  or  are  carried  by  wind  or  by  insects  (or 
by  the  gardener,  when  he  carries  out  "  artificial  pollina- 
tion ")  on  to  the  sticky  end  of  the  pistil  (called  the  stigma) 
and  there  grow  down  into  the  inside  of  the  pistil  as  deli- 
cate threads,  so  that  they  reach  the  germs  or  ovules — fuse 
with  them,  and  so  "  fertilise  "  them.  The  fertilised  ovules 
then  undergo  a  growth,  swell  up  and  become  ripe  "  seeds." 
Yet  this  process  of  "  the  fertilisation  of  flowers,"  and  the 
significance  of  pollen  as  the  male  fertilising  element,  was 
quite  unknown  until  a  little  over  two  hundred  years  ago, 
when  it  was  discovered  by  one  Nehemiah  Grew  (who  was 
in  1677  secretary  of  the  Royal  Society  of  London)  in  the 
old  Physick  Garden  opposite  Magdalen  College  at  Oxford. 
Seventeen  years  later  it  was  placed  on  a  sure  footing  by 
the  experiments  of  Jacob  Camerarius,  who  proved  that 
"  seed  "  does  not  become  fertile  unless  fecundated  by  pollen. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  the  ancients  had  no  conception 
of  the  existence  of  male  and  female  reproductive  particles 
in  plants.  They  seem  to  have  regarded  "  pollen  "  as 
meaningless  dust.  Aristotle  expressly  declares  that  plants 
have  no  males  and  females,  though  he  says  he  knew  some 
facts  which  led  him  to  conclude  that  some  trees  "  aid  "  others 
in  the  production  of  fruit,  as  in  the  case  of  the  fig-tree  and 
the  capri-fig.  The  aid  given  in  that  case  is  now  known 


FERTILISATION    OF    FIGS   AND    PALMS    103 

to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  capri-fig  is  merely  a  short- 
styled  form  of  the  fig  and  is  attacked  by  a  gall-wasp 
which  destroys  its  ovules.  The  gall-wasps  hatched  in  the 
fig  escape  from  the  opening  of  the  urn-like  fig  and  get 
covered  with  pollen,  which  they  carry  to  other  figs  (not 
infected  by  the  gall-wasps),  and,  entering  their  urns,  ferti- 
lise them  with  the  pollen  which  they  bring  on  their  bodies. 
It  is  only  by  these  gall-wasps  that  the  fig  can  be  fertilised 
and  produce  seed.  But  as  figs  are  nowadays  propagated 
by  "  cuttings,"  and  not  by  seed,  the  capri-fig  has  no  longer 
any  economic  importance.  The  ancient  Egyptians  and 
Assyrians,  as  we  see  by  their  sculptures,  knew  and  prac- 
tised artificial  fertilisation  of  the  date-palm.  Aristotle's 
pupil,  Theophrastus,  entertained  the  notion  that  this  was 
similar  to  the  sexual  process  in  animals,  but  dismissed 
it  on  the  ground  that  such  a  process  could  not  occur  in 
one  kind  of  tree  only,  but  would  be  found  in  many  or  all 
plants,  if  it  occurred  at  all  !  Long  after  him  the  Roman 
country  gentleman,  Pliny,  stated  his  belief  that  the  pollen 
of  the  date-palm  does  act  in  the  same  way  as  the  fertilising 
fluid  of  male  animals,  and  he  added  that  all  trees,  and  even 
herbs,  have  two  sexes.  But  this  well-founded  view  did 
not  receive  any  support  among  philosophers  and  natura- 
lists. The  authority  of  Aristotle  gave  prevalence  to  his 
mistaken  view  for  many  centuries.  Crew's  observations 
at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  which  were  con- 
firmed and  extended  by  other  botanists,  were  actually 
the  first  discovery  of  the  sexuality  of  plants. 

It  was  natural  enough  that  the  botanists  after  Grew's 
time,  who  succeeded  in  growing  the  flat  green  prothallus, 
and  then  young  ferns  from  fern  spores,  should  regard  the 
spores  as  ovules,  and  proceed  to  look  for  organs  on  the 
fern  frond  corresponding  to  the  anthers  of  the  stamens  of 
flowering  plants,  which  they  expected  would  be  found  to 
produce  a  fertilising  element  like  the  pollen  grain.  Hairs 


104  FERN-SEED 

and  other  minute  growths  upon  the  fern  leaf  were  described 
as  being  the  stamens,  the  producers  of  the  fertilising  male 
element ;  but  all  in  vain  !  No  attempted  demonstration 
of  such  organs  was  successful,  and,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they 
do  not  exist  !  It  was  not  until  the  nineteenth  century, 
actually  within  living  memory,  that  the  real  history  of  the 
reproduction  of  ferns  was  discovered.  It  was  not  possible 
to  ascertain  the  fact  until  the  microscope  had  been  improved 
and  the  methods  of  study  of  the  structure  of  plants 
and  animals  had  made  vast  progress  and  yielded  a  mass 
of  new  knowledge. 

It  was  discovered  in  I  844  (Nageli  and  Suminski)  that 
upon  the  under  surface  of  the  flat  green  prothallus  which 
develops  from  the  fern  spore,  two  kinds  of  minute  warts 
take  their  origin  (see  Fig.  8,  A).  The  one  are  little  volcano- 
like  protuberances,  each  containing  a  single  ovule  or  egg- 
cell,  and  may  be  called  egg-pits  (Fig.  9,  D'  and  D)  ;  the 
other  kind  are  tiny  sacs  which  contain  liquid  full  of 
actively  moving  spiral  filaments  (beset  with  vibrating 
hairs  or  cilia),  resembling  in  essential  character  the  sper- 
matozoa or  motile  sperm  filaments  of  animals  ;  they  are 
the  sperm-sacs  (Fig.  9,  A  and  A1).  The  excessively 
minute  microscopic  motile  "  sperms  "  escape  by  the  burst- 
ing of  the  sacs,  and  swim  through  the  film  of  water  on 
the  surface  of  the  "prothallus"  (Fig.  9,  B  and  c).  When 
one  of  these  microscopic  sperm-screws  (S/.)  thus  arrives 
at  one  of  the  volcano-like  egg-pits,  it  plunges  into  its 
opening  and  fuses  with  the  contained  egg  cell,  thus  fer- 
tilising it  (Fig.  9,  D).  It  is  then,  and  not  until  then, 
that  the  egg  cell  commences  to  grow  and  divide,  and 
gives  rise  to  the  young  fern  plant  (Fig.  8,  B,  &).  The  fern 
plant  nourishes  itself  and  develops  rapidly,  whilst  the  little 
green  prothallus,  having  borne  its  crop  of  eggs  and  sperms, 
withers,  and  is  seen  no  more.  The  fern  plant,  on  attaining 
full  size  and  maturity,  produces,  as  did  its  grandparent, 


105 


FIG.  9. — The  sperm-sacs  and  egg-pits  of  the  prothallus  of  the  ferns 
highly  magnified.  A'.  Surface  view  of  a  ripe  open  sperm-sac. 
A.  Section  through  it,  showing  the  flattened  cells  forming  its  walls 
and  the  contained  corkscrew-like  "sperms."  B.  The  minute 
wriggling  sperms  (Sp.)  escaping  from  the  sperm-sac  into  the  water 
adhering  to  the  surface  of  the  pruthallus.  c.  A  single  sperm  still 
more  magnified.  D'.  Surface  view  of  an  open  egg- pit.  D.  Section 
through  an  unfertilised  egg-pit.  Sp.  A  sperm  swimming  towards 
the  open  mouth  of  the  egg-pit.  Con.  Cells  forming  conducting- 
plug  along  which  the  sperm  will  travel.  Ov.  Ovule  or  egg-cell. 
E.  Fertilised  egg-pit.  In.  The  orifice.  Ov.  The  ovule  now  ferti- 
lised and  enlarging. 


io6  FERN-SEED 

spore  cases  on  the  back  of  its  leaves,  which  in  due  time 
shed  their  minute  unicellular  spores,  and  these  falling  on 
the  moist  earth  grow,  without  any  "  fertilisation  "  by  pollen 
or  sperm,  into  marchantia-like  prothalli.  Thus  there  are 
two  distinct  generations  in  the  life-history  of  the  fern. 
The  first  is  the  large  foliaceous  plant  with  stem  and  leaves, 
which  we  call  a  fern.  It  produces  spores  of  only  one 
kind  ;  they  are  self-sufficient,  and  germinate  without  any 
fusion  with,  or  fertilisation  by,  sperm  or  pollen.  This 
generation — the  fern  plant — we  call  "  the  spore-bearer,"  or 
sexless  generation.  The  second  generation  is  the  little  flat 
prothallus  which  arises  from  the  spores  of  the  spore-bearer. 
It — and  this  is  the  remarkable  thing  which  so  long  escaped 
the  observation  of  botanists — produces  male  and  female 
reproductive  organs — the  sperm-sacs  and  the  egg-pits.  It, 
small  and  obscure  though  it  be,  is  a  complete  organism  in 
itself,  producing  "  eggs  "  or  "  germ-cells  "  which  are  duly 
fertilised  by  sperm  threads.  We  call  it,  in  contrast  to  the 
first  generation,  "  the  egg-and-sperm  bearer,"  or  the  sexual 
generation.  Each  of  its  fertilised  eggs  gives  rise  by 
growth  and  development  to  a  spore-bearer  or  fern.  Thus, 
then,  there  is  an  alternation  of  the  two  generations,  the 
spore-bearing  big  fern  and  the  egg-and-sperm-bearing 
marchantia-like  prothallus.  After  all,  our  ancestors  were 
right  in  thinking  that  something  very  queer  and  unusual 
underlay  the  propagation  of  ferns  !  Not  the  least  note- 
worthy fact  in  the  matter  is  that  the  male  fertilising 
element  of  the  sexual  generation  of  the  fern  is  not  dry, 
dusty  "  pollen "  as  in  -flowering  plants,  but  microscopic 
aquatic  "  spermatozoa  "  like  those  of  animals.  Thereby 
hangs  a  tale  of  extraordinary  interest  as  to  the  nature  and 
origin  of  flowering  plants  to  which  I  will  give  a  new 
chapter. 


CHAPTER    VIII 
FERNS  THE   ANCESTORS  OF   FLOWERS 

WE  have  seen  that  the  spores  of  ferns  falling  on  the 
ground  produce  little  flat  green  patches — the  "pro- 
thalli  " — upon  which  female  egg-pits  and  male  sperm-sacs  in 
due  course  make  their  appearance,  and  that  the  microscopic 
screw-like  sperms  (or  "  antherozoids  "  as  the  botanists  call 
them)  escape  from  the  sacs  and  actively  swim  to  the  egg- 
pits  through  the  film  of  water  covering  the  damp  growth. 
They  enter  the  egg-pits  and  "  fertilise "  the  contained 
egg-cell.  All  plants  simpler  than  ferns,  such  as  horse- 
tails, mosses,  seaweeds,  and  water-weeds  (with  some  excep- 
tions) have  actively  motile  aquatic  "  sperms  "  like  those  of 
the  fern.  And  so,  be  it  noted,  have  animals.  All  plants 
higher  and  more  elaborate  than  the  ferns — such  as  the 
conifers  and  flower-bearing  trees,  shrubs,  and  herbs  (with 
the  rare  exception  among  living  plants  of  the  Gingko 
tree  and  the  Cycads),  cease  to  produce  aquatic  motile 
sperms.  Their  male  spores  are  the  familiar  dust-like  dry 
"  pollen  "  from  which,  when  it  falls  on  the  sticky  stigma 
of  the  flower — a  solid  filament  grows  and  penetrates  to 
the  egg-cells  buried  in  the  germen,  or  egg-holding  central 
part  of  the  flower.  Thus,  ferns  seem  to  represent  a 
stage  half-way  between  the  lower  plants  and  the  higher. 
And  as  a  matter  of  fact,  in  regard  to  many  points  of 
their  structure,  they  do.  Recent  discoveries  of  fossil  fern-like 
plants  of  great  age  have  led  to  the  definite  conclusion  that 


loS     FERNS  THE  ANCESTORS   OF  FLOWERS 

from  ancient  ferns  the  whole  galaxy  of  modern  cone-  and 
flower-bearing  higher  plants  have  been  derived  by  a  slow 
process  of  change,  step  by  step. 

Before  we  look  further  at  this  interesting  history,  let  me 
tell  of  a  very  remarkable  discovery  about  the  active  little 
swimming  sperms  of  the  fern's  sexual  generation.  More 
than  thirty  years  ago,  one  of  the  ablest  of  living  botanists 
— Pfeffer  by  name — was  watching  with  his  microscope  the 
movements  of  the  swimming  fern  "sperms"  (see  Fig.  9,  B,  C) 
in  the  presence  of  one  of  the  tiny  egg-pits  which  he  had 
cut  off  from  a  "  prothallus,"  and  placed  in  a  thin  film  of 
water  covered  by  thin  glass,  under  a  high  magnifying 
power.  He  saw  that  as  the  sperms  approached  the  egg- 
pit  they  seemed  to  be  drawn  by  some  attractive  force  to 
the  mouth  of  the  little  volcano-like  pit,  and  plunged  with 
great  rapidity  and  directness  into  it.  He  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  this  must  be  due  to  the  diffusion  of  some 
soluble  chemical  substance  from  the  mouth  of  the  egg-pit, 
which  acted  upon  the  distant  sperms,  and  attracted  and 
guided  them  to  it.  He  determined  to  find  out  what  this 
substance  was,  but  the  egg-pits  are  so  minute  that  it  was 
not  possible  to  collect  the  attractive  substance,  if  there, 
and  to  make  a  chemical  analysis  of  it.  He  therefore 
proceeded  to  attempt  to  solve  the  problem  in  another 
manner.  He  prepared,  by  aid  of  the  blowpipe,  a  very 
delicate,  hairlike  glass  tube,  and  breaking  it  into  very  short 
lengths  filled  each  little  piece  with  a  different  soluble 
chemical  substance,  such  as  might  probably  be  produced 
by  the  plant.  Then  he  placed  them  one  by  one  in  a  film 
of  water  under  his  microscope,  into  which  he  had  already 
introduced  a  quantity  of  the  active,  swimming,  screw-like 
little  sperms  of  the  fern's  prothallus.  He  watched  to  see 
whether  in  any  case  an  attractive  influence  was  exerted 
upon  the  swimming  crowd  of  sperms.  He  tried  a  whole 
series  of  possible  chemical  substances,  such  as  sugar, 


CHEMICAL    ATTRACTION  109 

tartaric  acid,  acetic  acid,  and  other  vegetable  products, 
without  success — the  sperms  took  no  notice.  At  last  (I 
believe  it  was  the  seventeenth  of  the  substances  he  tried) 
he  filled  one  of  his  little  tubes  with  a  dilute  solution  of 
the  acid  which  is  found  in  pears  and  apples,  and  is  called 
"  malic  acid  "  (from  the  Latin  "  malum,"  an  apple)  and 
placed  it  as  before.  A  marvellous  sight  then  greeted  his 
eye.  He  saw  the  little  sperms  violently  and  eagerly 
swimming  to  the  minute  glass  tube  containing  the  malic 
acid,  and  crowding  into  it.  This,  then,  was  the  attractive 
substance  produced  by  the  egg-pit  of  the  fern's  prothallus ! 
The  microscopic,  screw-like  particles  of  protoplasm  are 
guided  in  their  movement  by  the  dilute  stream  of  malic 
acid  issuing  from  the  egg-pit.  It  is  a  curious  coincidence 
that  the  name  of  this  acid  is  appropriate  as  being  irre- 
sistibly attractive  to  the  male  fertilising  sperms. 

Pfeffer  gave  to  this  process  of  the  chemical  guidance 
of  simple  protoplasm — which  is  in  its  results  similar  to 
that  produced  by  the  sense  of  smell  and  taste  in  higher 
organisms — the  name  "  chemotaxis."  It  has  since  been 
recognised  as  a  general  process  of  great  importance  in 
affecting  the  movements  of  minute  protoplasmic  particles 
— such  as  the  white  or  colourless  corpuscles  of  the  blood 
(phagocytes)  and  the  ubiquitous  swarming  bacteria  and 
bacilli.  Chemotaxis  may  cause  attraction,  and  is  then 
called  "  positive  chemotaxis,"  or  it  may  cause  repulsion, 
when  it  is  called  "negative  chemotaxis."  The  chemical  sub- 
stances which  produce  it  are  by  no  means  limited  to  malic 
acid,  but  are  endless  in  variety :  oxygen  gas,  as  well  as 
various  elaborate  organic  substances,  are  "  positively 
chemotactic  "  to  many  microscopic  organisms  ;  weak  acids 
and  such  bodies  as  quinine  are  negatively  chemotactic. 
The  moving  towards  and  repulsion  from  other  sources  of 
"  stimulation  "  are  conveniently  spoken  of  by  the  use  of 
the  same  words,  "  taxis  "  and  "  tactic  "  ;  thus  the  attraction 


no     FERNS   THE  ANCESTORS  OF  FLOWERS 

and  repulsion  caused  by  light  is  called  "  phototaxis,"  that 
caused  by  moisture  "  hygrotaxis,"  and  so  on.  A  most 
important  chapter  in  our  knowledge  of  the  activities  of 
protoplasm  and  of  simple  protoplasmic  cells  is  based  on 
the  study  of  these  attractions  and  repulsions,  which,  whilst 
they  appear  as  arbitrary  properties  determined  by  causes 
which  are  not  immediately  evident,  are  yet  capable  of 
modification  by  experimental  alteration  of  the  conditions 
in  which  the  protoplasm  exists,  so  that  we  are  entitled  to 
speak  of  "  the  education  "  of  such  microscopic  particles  by 
which  they  can  be  rendered  either  more  or,  on  the  other 
hand,  less  sensitive  to  "  chemotactic  "  agents. 

To  revert  now  to  the  question  of  the  relationship  of 
ferns  to  higher  plants.  The  following  points  are  of  impor- 
tance :  ( I )  Though  true  ferns  produce  from  their  spores 
prothalli  which  carry  both  sperm-sacs  and  egg-pits  on  the 
same  specimen,  yet  some  fern-like  plants  produce  prothalli 
which  carry  only  egg-pits,  and  others  which  carry  only 
sperm-sacs,  the  two  kinds  growing  side  by  side  from  the 
spores  shed  by  the  fern;  (2)  the  spores  which  produce  the 
female  or  egg-bearing  prothalli  are  in  some  cases  much 
larger  than  those  which  produce  the  male,  or  sperm-sac- 
bearing  prothalli.  We  then  distinguish  large  female-pro- 
ducing spores  from  small  male-producing  spores;  (3)  some 
ferns — for  instance  our  native  Royal  fern  (Osmunda 
regalis] — do  not  produce  spores  on  all  the  leaflets  of  a 
frond,  but  only  on  those  near  the  tip,  which  are  narrower 
and  less  leaf-like  than  those  lower  down  (Fig.  10,  A). 
Hence  this  fern  is  called  "  the  flowering  fern."  For  the 
essence  of  a  flower  is  that  it  is  a  set  of  leaves  like  the 
other  leaves  of  the  flowering  plant,  usually  not  green  and 
flat,  as  they  are,  but  modified — one  or  more  whorls  of 
them  being  often  coloured  and  arranged,  so  as  to  close 
over  the  terminal  or  tip  leaves,  which  are  called  "  stamens  " 
and  "  carpels,"  and  bear  the  reproductive  particles  (Fig.  i  o, 


Ill 


H2     FERNS  THE  ANCESTORS  OF  FLOWERS 

D  and  E).  Many  varieties  and  "  sports  "  of  cultivated  plants 
show  clearly  enough  that  the  stamens  are  leaves,  and  that 
the  segments  of  the  central  or  terminal  part,  the  "  pistil," 
are  also  leaves — carpellary  leaves  or  "  carpels,"  as  they  are 
called.  Double-flowers  are  sports  in  which  all  the  staminal, 
or  male,  and  all  the  carpels,  or  female  structures  assume 
the  form  of  leaves  like  the  coloured  circlet  called  the 
petals.  But  sometimes  "  sports  "  go  further  and  all  take 
on  the  colour  and  structure  of  green  foliage  leaves,  as  is 
the  case  in  the  green  rose,  of  which  an  example  exists 
in  Kew  Gardens.  In  this  way  it  becomes  evident  that 
foliage  leaves  and  the  close-set  whorls  of  the  parts  of  the 
flower  are  all  of  the  same  nature,  namely,  leaves,  or 
"  foliar  appendages."  An  examination  of  the  parts  of  the 
flower  of  the  finest  of  English  flowers,  the  common  water 
lily,  will  convince  any  doubter  that  this  is  true. 

The  modified  tip  of  the  frond  of  the  flowering  fern  is  in 
its  nature  the  same  thing  as  a  flower,  and  would  only  need 
to  be  made  a  little  more  compact,  and  to  have  its  spore- 
bearing  leaflets  set  in  whorls  surrounded  by  others  devoid 
of  spores,  in  order  to  fully  justify  us  in  calling  it  a 
"  flower." 

But  what  about  the  spores  and  the  two  generations,  the 
spore-bearer  and  the  egg-and  sperm-bearer  of  the  fern  ? 
How  are  they  represented  in  the  flowering  plant  ?  It  is 
true  there  is  no  visible  second  generation  in  the  flowering 
plant.  But  this  is  not  because  it  is  not  there  ;  it  is  because 
it  is  so  small  and  so  much  altered  that  it  has  taken  a  great 
deal  of  time  and  ingenuity  for  botanists  to  find  it  out. 
Among  ferns  there  are  some  which  have  a  very  minute 
sexual  generation  or  prothallus,  and  the  spores  of  one  part 
may  drop  on  to  the  fronds  of  another  part  and  germinate 
there  and  give  rise  to  the  sexual  prothallus  without  falling 
to  the  ground,  so  that  little  ferns  are  seen  growing  on 
the  surface  of  the  bigger  fronds.  You  may  see  such  ferns 


TRANSITION  FROM  FERNS  TO  FLOWERS     113 

in  greenhouses.  But  there  are  yet  other  cases  among 
fern-like  plants,  in  which  the  big  spores  mentioned  above 
actually  germinate  without  quitting  the  leaflet  on  which 
they  are  formed  and  produce  very  minute  prothalli  bearing 
egg-pits  without  separation  from  the  spore-bearing  fern  ! 
Now,  it  is  no  stretch  of  the  imagination  to  conceive  of  fern- 
like  plants  as  having  once  existed,  in  which  the  leaflets 
bearing  large  spores  should  be  grouped  like  the  scales  of  a 
pine-cone  or  the  whorls  of  a  flower  so  as  to  protect  the 
large  spores,  and  that  these  spores  should  "  germinate " 
beneath  their  coats  each  where  it  is  fixed,  thus  producing 
without  falling  from  its  place  of  origin  a  minute,  solid,  little 
prothallus,  which  in  due  course  produces  one  or  more  egg- 
pits,  each  holding  a  single  egg-cell.  Each  such  leaflet  is  a 
carpel  or  carpellary  leaf.  At  the  same  time  the  leaflets 
carrying  the  small  spores  destined  to  produce  prothalli, 
which  will  carry  only  sperm-sacs,  must  be  supposed  to 
have  formed  either  a  separate  male  cone  or  a  male  flower, 
or  to  have  arranged  themselves  around  the  female  carpels 
as  stamens  or  staminal  leaflets.  We  shall  see  what 
happens  to  the  small  spores  which  they  produce. 

How,  then,  are  we  to  suppose  that  fertilisation  took 
place  ?  The  extinct  plants  in  which  these  changes  actually 
arose  were  not  small  or  aquatic  in  habit.  They  were  well 
grown  shrubs  and  trees.  This  is  what  occurred.  The 
staminal  or  male  leaflets  produced  their  small  spores  in 
spore-cases  (the  anthers),  and  the  cases  burst,  setting  free 
the  male-prothallus-producing  spores,  which  are,  in  fact, 
the  same  thing  as  the  pollen  grains  of  higher  plants. 
Unlike  the  female-prothallus-producing  spores,  or  big 
spores,  they  do  not  remain  in  place,  but  are  shed  in 
showers  of  millions  into  the  air.  They  are  blown  by  the 
wind  (as  we  see  to-day  in  the  case  of  pines  and  many 
other  trees),  and  are  carried  by  it  to  the  female  or  car- 
pellary cones,  or  maybe  to  rosette-like  female  flowers. 

8 


H4    FERNS  THE  ANCESTORS  OF  FLOWERS 

The  dispersal  of  the  male-spores,  or  pollen,  by  wind 
was  the  earlier  method  ;  it  was  not  until  a  late  geological 
period — the  cretaceous,  or  chalk — that  (as  their  fossil 
remains  show  us)  insects  capable  of  feeding  on  the  honey 
of  flowers,  and  coloured  flowers  capable  of  attracting  the 
insects  by  sight,  came  into  existence  ;  and  it  is  since  that 
period  that  all  the  wonderful  relations  and  adaptations  of 
flower  to  insect,  and  insect  to  flower,  have  been  brought 
about.  Before  that,  the  wind-blown  pollen-grains,  or  male- 
prothallus-spores,  were  in  such  profusion  that  some  of 
them  were  carried  by  the  wind  to  the  surface  of  the  car- 
pellary  leaflets  of  the  female  cones,  or  rosettes,  as  occurs 
to-day  in  the  pine-trees  which  shed  enormous  quantities 
of  pollen-dust  in  the  spring.  There  the  pollen  spore 
germinated  instead  of  waiting  to  reach  the  ground  and 
produce  its  little  thread-like  prothallus.  In  early  geological 
times  (Oolitic) — as  we  know  from  certain  rare  trees  which 
have  persisted  from  those  times,  when  they  were  very 
abundant,  to  this  day,  viz.  the  Japanese  Gingko  tree,  or 
Maiden's  Hair  fern-tree,  and  the  Cycads,  or  palm-conifers 
— the  little  "  prothallus  "  which  emerged  out  of  the  pollen- 
spore  was  not  a  simple  filament  as  it  is  in  the  case  of  the 
pollen  of  our  modern  flowering  plants.  The  pollen-spore 
of  the  Gingko  tree  and  the  Cycads  actually  produces  in 
these  survivors  of  primitive  forms  at  least  one  sperm-sac 
containing  liquid  in  which  are  motile  sperms.  And  the 
egg-pit  of  the  female  prothallus  developed  from  the  big 
spores  borne  by  the  carpellary  leaflets  of  the  female 
flowers  is  not  so  reduced  or  simple  a  thing  as  it  is  in 
modern  flowering  plants.  It  is  a  real  pit  containing  liquid, 
and  the  motile  sperms  from  the  pollen's  prothallus  which 
pushes  itself  into  the  little  pit,  are  liberated  and  swim 
about  in  the  liquid  of  the  reservoir  or  chamber  formed  by 
the  egg-pit,  and  then  fuse  with  the  egg-cells  there  em- 
bedded and  fertilise  them.  We  see  there  is  still  a  great 


THE   GINGKO   TREE  AND   GYGADS         115 

deal  of  the  separate  sexual  generation  retained.  Much 
of  this  has  been  done  away  with  in  the  process  of  time 
in  the  course  of  those  changes  which  have  given  us  the 
great  modern  group  of  flowering  plants  and  trees.  There 
is  in  modern  flower-bearing  trees  and  herbs  no  pit,  pro- 
vided by  the  female  prothallus,  containing  liquid  for  the 
motile  sperms  to  swim  about  in  ;  the  pollen-prothallus  no 
longer  produces  motile  sperms.  It  does  not  even  divide 
into  a  chain  of  cells,  but  becomes  a  very  small  thread 
called  the  "pollen-tube,"  and  makes  its  way  by  growth  into 
contact  with  the  egg-cell  embedded  in  loose  tissue,  and 
itself  fuses  with  the  egg-cell.  Thus,  in  the  modern  group 
of  flowering  plants,  the  female  prothallus  is  reduced  to  a 
solid  particle  of  tissue  in  which  an  egg-cell  is  set,  and  the 
male  prothallus  does  not  even  arrive  at  the  dignity  of 
forming  cells  and  tissue,  let  alone  sperms  ;  it  is  a  simple 
protoplasmic  filament  which  issues  from  the  "  small  spore  " 
or  pollen  grain. 

In  the  living  survivors  of  the  great  forests  of  Gingko 
trees  and  Cycad-like  plants  intermediate  between  ferns 
and  modern  flowering  plants  which  flourished  in  the 
oolitic  period,  two  Japanese  botanists,  Hirase  and  Ikeno, 
discovered  twenty  years  ago  that  the  pollen-grains — the 
male  fertilising  spores  (familiar  in  all  our  modern  flowering 
plants) — when  carried  on  to  the  female  flowers,  produce  by 
cell-division  a  growth  like  the  little  green  "  prothallus  "  of 
the  fern,  and  that  this  growth,  penetrating  the  female 
structures,  gives  rise  to  actively  swimming  sperms  (as  does 
the  prothallus  of  a  fern),  which  are  received  into  a  liquid- 
holding  cavity  of  the  egg-producing  growth  of  the  female 
spores.  These  female  spores  and  the  little  egg-producing 
plants  to  which  they  give  rise  remain  attached  to  and 
fixed  on  the  leaf  where  they  originate,  instead  of  being 
shed,  as  in  the  case  of  ferns ;  but  the  same  process  of 
fertilisation  by  sperms  which  swim  freely  in  liquid  takes 


n6    FERNS  THE  ANCESTORS  OF  FLOWERS 

place  in  the  Gingko  and  the  Cycads  as  occurs  in  the 
detached,  separately  growing  sexual  generation  or  "  pro- 
thallus  "  of  the  fern. 

These  remarkable  survivals  of  the  fern-stage  of  develop- 
ment are  suppressed  in  the  modern  "  flowering  plants,"  the 
pine  trees  and  the  whole  host  of  trees  and  herbs  which  bear 
"  flowers."  In  them  there  are  no  "  sperms,"  but  the  pollen- 
spore  gives  rise,  when  carried  to  the  carpels  or  female 
leaves,  to  a  minute  hair-like  filament,  almost  devoid  of 
structure.  The  pollen  filament,  thus  growing,  penetrates  the 
tissues  surrounding  the  equivalent  of  the  egg-bearing  "pro- 
thallus,"  which  is  never  shed,  but  remains  fixed  to  the  female 
leaf  on  which  it  originated.  Thus  the  ovule  or  egg-cell  is 
"fertilised,"  so  to  speak  "in  place,"  by  the  pollen  filament 
itself  without  the  production  of  any  separate  "sperms."  The 
sexual  or  "prothallus"  generation  of  the  fern  is  in  fact 
reduced  and  becomes,  so  far  as  the  female  is  concerned,  a 
minute  part  of  the  large  spore-bearing  plant  or  first  gene- 
ration, whilst  so  far  as  the  male  spore  (pollen)  is  concerned, 
it  is  detached  as  in  ferns,  but  never  develops  further  than 
the  condition  of  a  tiny  filament,  and  never  produces  sperms. 
No  one  would  ever  guess  that  such  a  history  lay  behind 
the  pollen  and  the  seed  of  our  common  plants  on  first 
acquaintance  with  them.  The  discovery  was  one  of  the 
many  great  triumphs  of  scientific  investigation  in  the 
second  half  of  "the  wonderful  century"  which  closed  ten 
years  ago. 

The  fertilised  ovule  or  egg-cell  of  the  flowering  plant  is 
contained  in  an  envelope  and  packing  of  more  or  less 
numerous  "  coats."  It  swells  up  when  fertilised  and  com- 
mences to  grow  within  its  case  as  a  young  plant,  and  is 
said  to  be  a  ripe  and  fully-formed  "  seed  "  when  its  envelope 
becomes  hard  and  protective.  The  formation  of  what  is 
properly  called  "  seed  "  is  a  protective  process  in  which  the 
young  embryo,  already  well  advanced  in  growth,  is  en- 


EXTINCT   SEED-PRODUCING    FERNS        117 

veloped  in  a  variety  of  ways  in  different  instances  and 
is  arrested  for  a  time,  often  a  very  long  time,  in  its  further 
growth.  The  envelopes  may  be  big  or  small,  whilst  the 
living  germ  within — sometimes  minute,  sometimes  big,  as 
in  the  bean,  and  bigger  still  in  the  cocoa-nut — is  further 
protected  and  assisted  in  its  dispersal  by  the  swelling  up, 
around  the  seeds,  of  the  substance  of  the  carpels  or  big 
spore-bearing  leaves,  to  form  the  "fruit."  Nothing  like 
a  seed  (that  is,  a  true  seed  in  the  botanical  sense),  nor 
anything  corresponding  to  a  fruit  is  developed  in  true  ferns, 
but  there  were  ancient  ferns  (in  the  coal-measures)  which 
are  shown  by  well-preserved  fossils  to  have  produced 
attached  "seeds"  instead  of  detached  prothalli,  and  consti- 
tute a  group  called  "seeding  ferns."  They  lead  on  to 
primitive  cycads  (so-called  fern-cycads)  and  primitive  coni- 
fers in  the  succeeding  Oolitic  age,  from  which  our  modern 
flowering  plants  and  pine  trees  have  finally  arisen.  Our 
ferns  of  to-day  often  attain  the  size  of  trees  (the  tree-ferns 
in  Australasia  are  50  feet  high),  but  they  remain  at  the 
lower  stage  of  elaboration  of  the  reproductive  process.  The 
extinct  "seeding  ferns"  formed  the  step  leading  on  to 
further  changes,  and  they  have  left  no  survivors  of  precisely 
their  own  grade  of  development.  The  gradual  develop- 
ment of  the  flower  and  the  fruit  followed  in  their  offspring 
by  steps  which  have  been  very  largely  ascertained  in  fossil 
remains  of  the  Oolitic  period. 

The  development  of  the  colours  and  shapes  of  our 
modern  dominant  flowering  plants  under  the  influence  of 
insects  was  a  later  step,  in  tracing  which  the  fossilised 
remains  of  plants  and  animals  give  us  only  the  negative 
indication  that  there  were  neither  such  flowers  nor  such 
insects  until  the  chalk  period — that  landmark  of  geologic 
progress  which  in  many  ways  marks  off  the  more  modern 
animals  and  plants  of  the  Tertiary  perio^  from  the  Secon- 
dary, in  which  great  reptiles  and  the  ancient  cycads  and 


n8     FERNS  THE  ANCESTORS  OF  FLOWERS 

gingko-trees  flourished.  It  is  a  very  curious  and  significant 
fact,  when  one  thinks  it  over,  that  the  beautiful  shapes 
and  colours  of  flowers  which  human  beings  admire  and 
love  so  much  to-day,  have  been  produced  by  the  habit  of 
insects  seeking  honey  and  pollen  as  nourishment  from 
flowers  which  were  at  first  dull-coloured  or  green,  but 
became  brilliant  in  colour  and  arresting  in  shape  by 
natural  selection  and  survival  of  the  fit.  Those  flowers 
which  at  first  by  variation — variation  which  always  and 
simply  must  occur,  because  all  nature  varies  and  changes 
in  detail  as  time  goes  on — showed  a  patch  of  colour,  were 
seen  and  visited  by  the  insects,  were  accordingly  fertilised 
by  the  pollen  carried  on  the  body  of  the  insect,  and  so 
were  favoured  and  transmitted  their  variation,  their  ten- 
dency to  produce  colour,  to  their  offspring.  Thus,  through 
the  agency  of  the  insects,  bright  obvious  flowers  of  various 
colours  and  shapes  were  little  by  little  developed.  At 
first  a  little  colour  would  gain  success,  but  more  and  more, 
in  the  competition  for  place  and  nourishment,  the  brightest 
and  (to  the  insects)  most  attractive  colourings  and  shapes 
would  gain  favour  and  multiply.  And  so  at  last  we  have 
that  world  of  beauty — the  flowers  as  we  see  them  to-day 
in  all  their  loveliness  of  colour  and  pattern — created,  pro- 
duced, even  as  man  produces  new  garden  kinds,  by  those 
innocent  little  horticulturists — the  flower-seeking  insects. 


CHAPTER    IX 
ELEPHANTS 

IX  the  novel  by  that  clever  but  contradictious  writer, 
Sam  Butler,  entitled  'The  Way  of  All  Flesh,'  an 
amiable  and  philosophically  minded  old  gentleman,  who 
pervades  the  story,  states  that  when  one  feels  worried  or 
depressed  by  the  incidents  of  one's  daily  life,  great  comfort 
may  be  derived  from  an  hour  spent  at  the  Zoological 
Gardens  in  company  with  the  larger  mammalia.  He 
ascribes  to  them  a  remarkable  soothing  influence,  and  I  am 
inclined  to  agree  with  him.  I  am  not  prepared  to  decide 
whether  the  effect  is  due  to  the  example  of  patience  under 
adversity  offered  by  these  animals,  or  whether  it  is  perhaps 
their  tranquil  indifference  to  everything  but  food,  coupled 
with  their  magnificent  success  in  attaining  to  such  dignity 
of  size,  which  imposes  upon  me  and  fills  me  for  a  brief 
space  with  resignation  and  a  childlike  acquiescence  in 
things  as  they  are.  The  elephant  stands  first  as  a  soothing 
influence,  and  then  the  giraffe,  the  latter  having  special 
powers,  due  to  its  beautiful  eyes  and  agreeable  perfume. 
Sometimes  the  hippopotamus  may  diffuse  a  charm  of  his 
own,  an  aura  of  rotund  obesity,  especially  when  he  is 
bathing  or  sleeping  ;  but  there  are  moments  when  one 
has  to  flee  from  his  presence.  I  never  could  get  on  very 
well  with  rhinoceroses,  but  the  large  deer,  bison,  and  wild 
cattle  have  the  quality  detected  by  Mr.  Butler.  So  has 
the  gorgeous,  well-grown  tiger,  in  full  measure,  when  he 


120 


ELEPHANTS 


purrs  in  answer  to  one's  voice  :  but  the  lion  is  pompous, 
irritable,  and  easily  upset.  He  never  purrs.  He  is 
unpleasantly  and  obscurely  spotted.  He  seems  to  be 
afraid  of  losing  his  dignity,  and  to  be  conscious  of  the 
fact  that  his  reputation — like  that  of  some  English  officials 
— depends  on  the  overpowering  wig  which  he  now  wears, 
though  his  Macedonian  forerunner  had  no  such  growth  to 
give  an  illusive  appearance  of  size  and  capacity  to  his 
head.  However  opinions  may  differ  about  these  things, 
all  will  agree  that  the  elephant  (or  "  Oliphant,"  as  he  was 


FIG.  ii. — The  Indian  elephant  (Elephas  maximns  or  indicus}. 
Observe  the  small  size  of  its  ear-flap. 

called  in  France  400  years  ago)  is    the   most  imposing, 
fascinating,  and  astonishing  of  all  animals. 

At  the  present  day  there  are  two  species  only  of 
elephant  existing  on  the  earth's  surface.  These  are  the 
Indian  (Fig.  I  i)  (called  Elephas  indicus,  but  sometimes 
called  Elephas  maxiinus  on  account  of  the  priority  which 
belongs  to  that  designation,  although  the  Indian  elephant 
is  smaller  than  the  other),  and  the  African  (Fig.  I  2)  (called 
Elephas  Africanus).  In  the  wild  state  their  area  of 
occupation  has  become  greatly  diminished  within  historic 
times.  The  Indian  elephant  was  hunted  in  Mesopotamia 


THE  INDIAN  AND  AFRICAN  ELEPHANT    121 

in  the  twelfth  century  B.C.,  and  Egyptian  drawings  of  the 
eighteenth  dynasty  show  elephants  of  this  species  brought 
as  tribute  by  Syrian  vassals.  To-day  the  Indian  elephant 
is  confined  to  certain  forests  of  Hindoostan,  Ceylon, 
Burma,  and  Siam.  The  African  elephant  extended  100 
years  ago  all  over  South  Africa,  and  in  the  days  of  the 
Carthaginians  was  found  near  the  Mediterranean  shore, 
whilst  in  prehistoric  (late  Pleistoscene)  times  it  existed  in 
the  south  of  Spain  and  in  Sicily.  Now  it  is  confined  to 


X2 


FIG.  12. — The  African  elephant  (Elephas  africanus)  with  rider 
mounted  on  its  back.  The  drawing  is  an  enlarged  representation 
of  an  ancient  Carthaginian  coin. 

the  more  central  and  equatorial  zone  of  Africa,  and  is 
yearly  receding  before  the  incursions  and  destructive 
attacks  of  civilised  man. 

At  no  great  distance  of  time  before  the  historic  period, 
earlier,  indeed,  than  the  times  of  the  herdsmen  who  used 
polished  stone  implements  and  raised  great  stone  circles, 
namely,  in  the  late  pleistocene  period,  we  find  that  there 
existed  all  over  Europe  and  North  Asia  and  the  northern 
part  of  America  another  elephant  very  closely  allied  to  the 


122  ELEPHANTS 

Indian  elephant,  but  having  a  bow-like  outward  curvature 
of  the  tusks,  their  points  finally  directed  towards  one 
another,  and  a  thick  growth  of  coarse  hair  all  over  the 
body.  This  is  "  the  mammoth,"  the  remains  of  which 
are  found  in  every  river  valley  in  England,  France  and 
Germany,  and  of  which  whole  carcases  are  frequently  dis- 
covered in  Northern  Siberia,  preserved  from  decay  in  the 
frozen  river  gravels  and  "  silt."  The  ancient  cave-men  of 
France  used  the  fresh  tusks  of  the  mammoth  killed  on  the 
spot  for  their  carvings  and  engravings,  and  from  their  time 
to  this  the  ivory  of  the  mammoth  has  been,  and  remains, 
in  constant  use.  It  is  estimated  that  during  the  last  two 
centuries  at  least  I  oo  pairs  of  mammoths'  tusks  have  been 
each  year  exported  from  the  frozen  lands  of  Siberia.  In 
early  mediaeval  times  the  trade  existed,  and  some  ivory 
carvings  and  drinking  horns  of  that  age  appear  to  be 
fashioned  from  this  more  ancient  ivory. 

Already,  then,  within  the  human  period  we  find  elephants 
closely  similar  to  those  of  our  own  time,  far  more  numerous 
and  widely  distributed  than  in  our  own  day,  and  happily 
established  all  over  the  temperate  regions  of  the  earth- 
even  in  our  Thames  Valley  and  in  the  forests  where  London 
now  spreads  its  smoky  brickwork.  When  we  go  further 
back  in  time — as  the  diggings  and  surveying  of  modern 
man  enable  us  to  do — we  find  other  elephants  of  many 
different  species,  some  differing  greatly  from  the  three 
species  I  have  mentioned,  and  leading  us  back  by  gradual 
steps  to  a  comparatively  small  animal,  about  the  size  of  a 
donkey,  without  the  wonderful  trunk  or  the  immense  tusks 
of  the  later  elephants.  By  the  discovery  and  study  of  these 
earlier  forms  we  have  within  the  last  ten  years  arrived  at  a 
knowledge  of  the  steps  by  which  the  elephant  acquired  in 
the  course  of  long  ages  (millions  of  years)  his  "  proboscis  " 
(as  the  Greeks  first  called  it),  and  I  will  later  sketch  that 
history. 


SIZE   OF  MODERN   ELEPHANTS  123 

But  now  let  us  first  of  all  note  some  of  the  peculiarities 
of  living  elephants  and  the  points  by  which  the  two  kinds 
differ  from  one  another.  The  most  striking  fact  about 
the  elephant  is  its  enormous  size.  It  is  only  exceeded 
among  living  animals  by  whales  ;  it  is  far  larger  than  the 
biggest  bull,  or  rhinoceros,  or  hippopotamus.  A  fair-sized 
Indian  elephant  weighs  two  to  three  tons  (Jumbo,  one  of 
the  African  species,  weighed  five), and  requires  as  food  60  Ib. 
of  oats,  I  i  truss  of  hay,  I  i  truss  of  corn  a  day,  costing 
together  in  this  country  about  5 s. ;  whereas  a  large  cart-horse 
weighs  i  5  cwt.,  and  requires  weekly  three  trusses  of  hay  and 
80  Ib.  of  oats,  costing  together  I  2s.}  or  about  I  s.  8^d.  a  day. 
It  is  this  which  has  proved  fatal  to  the  elephant  since  man 
took  charge  of  the  world.  The  elephant  requires  so  much 
food  and  takes  so  many  years  in  growing  up  (twenty  or 
more  before  he  his  old  enough  to  be  put  to  work),  that  it 
is  only  in  countries  where  there  is  a  superabundance  of 
forest  in  which  he  can  be  allowed  to  grow  to  maturity  at 
his  own  "  charges  "  (so  to  speak)  that  it  is  worth  while  to 
attempt  to  domesticate  and  make  use  of  him.  For  most 
purposes  three  horses  are  more  "  handy"  than  one  elephant. 
The  elephant  is  caught  when  he  is  already  grown  up,  and 
then  trained.  It  is  as  a  matter  of  economy  that  he  is  not 
bred  in  confinement,  and  not  because  there  is  any  insuper- 
able difficulty  in  the  matter.  Occasionally  elephants  have 
bred  in  menageries. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  African  elephant  at  the 
present  day  grows  to  a  larger  size  than  the  Indian,  though 
it  was  the  opinion  of  the  Romans  of  the  Empire  that  the 
Indian  elephant  was  the  more  powerful,  courageous,  and 
intelligent  of  the  two.  It  seems  next  to  impossible  to 
acquire  at  the  present  day  either  specimens  or  trustworthy 
records  of  the  largest  Indian  elephants.  About  loft.  6 in. 
at  the  shoulder  seems  to  be  the  maximum,  though  they 
are  dressed  up  by  their  native  owners  with  platforms  and 


124  ELEPHANTS 

coverings  to  make  them  look  bigger.  In  India  the  skin 
of  domesticated  individuals  is  polished  and  carefully 
stained,  like  an  old  boot,  by  the  assiduity  of  their 
guardians,  so  that  a  museum  specimen  of  exceptional 
size,  fit  for  exhibition  and  study,  cannot  be  obtained.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  African  elephant  not  unfrequently 
exceeds  a  height  of  I  i  ft.  at  the  shoulder.  With  some 
trouble  I  obtained  one  exceeding  this  measurement  direct 
from  East  Africa  for  the  Natural  History  Museum,  where 
it  now  stands.  It  seems  highly  probable  that  this  species 
occasionally  exceeds  1 2  ft.  in  height.  On  the  ground, 
between  the  great  African  elephant's  fore  and  hind  legs,  in 
the  museum,  I  placed  a  stuffed  specimen  of  the  smallest 
terrestrial  mammal — the  pigmy  shrew-mouse.  It  is  worth 
while  thus  calling  to  mind  that  the  little  animal  has  practi- 
cally every  separate  bone,  muscle,  blood-vessel,  nerve,  and 
other  structure  present  in  the  huge  monster  compared  with 
it — is,  in  fact,  built  closely  upon  the  same  plan,  and  yet  is 
so  much  smaller  that  it  is  impossible  to  measure  one  by 
the  other.  The  mouse  is  only  about  one  fifth  the  length 
of  the  elephant's  eye.  According  to  ancient  Oriental 
fable,  the  mouse  and  the  dragon  were  the  only  two 
animals  of  which  the  elephant  was  afraid. 

The  African  elephant  has  much  larger  tusks  relatively 
to  his  size  than  the  Indian,  and  both  males  and  females 
have  them,  whereas  the  Indian  female  has  none.  A  very 
fine  Indian  elephant's  tusk  weighs  from  75lb.  to  8olb. 
The  record  for  an  African  elephant's  tusk  was  (according 
to  standard  books)  I  80  Ib.  But  I  obtained  ten  years  ago 
for  the  museum,  where  it  now  may  be  seen,  an  African 
elephant's  tusk  weighing  228^1b.  Its  fellow  weighed  a 
couple  of  pounds  less.  It  measures  loft.  2 in.  in  length 
along  the  curvature.  This  tusk  was  recognised  by  Sir 
Henry  Stanley's  companion,  Mr.  Jephson,  when  he  was 
with  me  in  the  museum,  as  actually  one  which  he  had  last 


EARS   AND   TEETH   OF    ELEPHANTS       125 

seen  in  the  centre  of  Africa.  He  told  me  that  he  had,  in 
fact,  weighed  and  measured  this  tusk  in  the  treasury  of 
Emin  Pasha,  in  Central  Africa,  when  he  went  with  Stanley 
to  bring  Emin  down  to  the  coast.  As  will  be  remembered, 
Emin  had  no  wish  to  go  to  the  coast,  but  returned  to  his 
province.  He  was  subsequently  attacked  and  murdered 
by  an  Arab  chief,  who  appropriated  his  store  of  ivory,  and 
in  the  course  of  time  had  it  conveyed  to  the  ivory  market 
at  Zanzibar.  The  date  of  the  purchase  there  of  the 
museum  specimen  corresponds  with  the  history  given  by 
Mr.  Jephson. 

The  African  elephant  (as  may  be  seen  by  comparing 
the  small  one  now  living  in  Regent's  Park  with  its  neigh- 
bours) has  a  sloping  forehead  graduating  into  the  trunk  or 
proboscis,  instead  of  the  broad,  upright  brow  of  the 
Indian.  He  also  has  very  much  larger  ears,  which  lie 
against  the  shoulders  (except  when  he  is  greatly  excited) 
like  a  short  cape  or  cloak  (see  Fig.  I  2).  These  great  ears 
differ  somewhat  in  shape  in  the  elephants  of  different  parts 
of  Africa,  and  local  races  can  be  distinguished  by  the 
longer  or  shorter  angle  into  which  the  flap  is  drawn  out. 
The  grinding  teeth  of  the,  two  elephants  differ  very 
markedly,  but  one  must  see  these  in  a  museum.  The 
grinders  are  very  large  and  long  (from  behind  forwards), 
coming  into  place  one  after  the  other.  Each  grinder 
occupies,  when  fully  in  position,  the  greater  part  of  one 
side  of  the  upper  or  of  the  lower  jaw.  They  are  crossed 
from  right  to  left  by  ridges  of  enamel,  like  a  series 
of  mountains  and  valleys,  which  gradually  wear  down  by 
rubbing  against  those  of  the  tooth  above  or  below.  The 
biggest  grinder  of  the  Indian  elephant  has  twenty-four  of 
these  transverse  ridges,  whilst  that  of  the  African  has  only 
eleven,  which  are  therefore  wider  apart  (See  Fig.  13). 
An  extinct  kind  of  elephant — the  mastodon — had  only 
five  such  ridges  on  its  biggest  grinders,  and  four  or 


126 


ELEPHANTS 


only  three  on  the  others.  Other  ancestral  elephants 
had  quite  ordinary-looking  grinders,  with  only  two  or 
three  irregular  ridges  or  broad  tubercles.  Both  the 
Indian  and  African  elephant  have  hairless,  rough,  very 
hard,  wrinkled  skins.  But  the  newborn  young  are 
covered  with  hair,  and  some  Indian  elephants  living  in  cold, 
mountainous  regions  appear  to  retain  a  certain  amount  of 


B 


FIG.  13. — The  crowns  of  three  "grinders"  or  molars  of  elephants 
compared.  A  is  that  of  an  extinct  mastodon  with  four  transverse 
ridges;  B  is  that  of  the  African  elephant  with  nine  ridges  in  use 
and  ground  flat ;  C  is  that  of  the  mammoth  with  sixteen  narrow 
ridges  in  use — the  rest,  some  eight  in  number,  are  at  the  left  hand 
of  the  figure  and  not  yet  in  use. 

hair  through  life.  The  mammoth  (which  agreed  with  the 
Indian  elephant  in  the  number  of  ridges  on  its  grinders 
and  in  other  points)  lived  in  quite  cold,  sub-Arctic  condi- 
tions, at  a  time  when  glaciers  completely  covered  Scandi- 
navia and  the  north  of  our  islands  as  well  as  most  of 


WHEN  ELEPHANTS  BROUGHT  TO  EUROPE   127 

Germany.  It  retained  a  complete  coat  of  coarse  hair 
throughout  life.  The  young  of  our  surviving  elephants 
only  exhibit  transitorily  the  family  tendency. 

The  last  mammoth  probably  disappeared  from  the  area 
which  is  now  Great  Britain  about  150,000  years  ago.  It 
might  be  supposed  that  no  elephant  was  seen  in  England 
again  until  the  creation  of  "  menageries  "  and  "  zoological 
Gardens "  within  the  last  two  or  three  hundred  years. 
This,  however,  is  by  no  means  the  case.  The  Italians  in 
the  middle  ages,  and  through  them  the  French  and  the 
rulers  of  Central  Europe,  kept  menageries,  and  received  as 
presents,  or  in  connection  with  their  trade  with  the  East 
and  their  relations  with  Eastern  rulers,  frequent  specimens 
of  strange  beasts  from  distant  lands.  Our  King  Henry  I, 
had  a  menagerie  at  Woodstock,  where  he  kept  a  porcu- 
pine, lions,  leopards,  and  a  camel  !  The  Emperor 
Charlemagne  received  in  803  A.D.  from  Haroun  al 
Raschid,  the  Caliph  of  Bagdad,  an  elephant  named 
Abulabaz.  It  was  brought  to  Aix-la-Chapelle  by  Isaac  the 
Jew,  and  died  suddenly  in  8 1  o.  Some  four  and  a  half 
centuries  later  (in  1257),  Louis  IX,  of  France,  returning 
from  the  Holy  Land,  sent  as  a  special  and  magnificent 
present  to  Henry  III,  King  of  England  (according  to  the 
chronicle  of  Matthew  Paris),  an  elephant  which  was  ex- 
hibited at  the  Tower  of  London.  It  was  supposed  by  the 
chronicler  to  be  the  first  ever  brought  to  England,  and 
indeed  the  first  to  be  taken  beyond  Italy,  for  he  did  not 
know  of  Charlemagne's  specimen.  In  1591  King  Henry 
IV  of  France,  wishing  to  be  very  polite  to  Queen 
Elizabeth  of  England,  and  apparently  rather  troubled  by 
the  expense  of  keeping  the  beast  himself,  sent  to  her, 
having  heard  that  she  would  like  to  have  it,  an  elephant 
which  had  been  brought  from  the  "  Indies  "  and  landed  at 
Dieppe.  He  declared  it  to  be  the  first  which  had  ever 
come  into  France,  but  presented  it  to  Her  Majesty  "  as  I 


128  ELEPHANTS 

would  most  willingly  present  anything  more  excellent  did  I 
possess  it."  Thenceforward  elephants  were  from  time  to 
time  exhibited  at  the  Tower,  together  with  lions  and  other 
strange  beasts  acquired  by  the  Crown. 

None  of  these  elephants  were,  however,  "  the  first  who 
ever  burst  "  into  remote  Britain  after  the  mammoths  had 
disappeared,  and  we  were  separated  from  Europe  by  the 
geological  changes  which  gave  us  the  English  Channel- 
La  Manche.  Though  Julius  Caesar  himself  does  not 
mention  it,  it  is  definitely  stated  by  a  writer  on  strategy 
named  Polyaenus,  a  friend  of  the  Emperor  Marcus  Aurelius, 
but  not,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  an  authority  to  whose  statements 
historians  attach  any  serious  value — that  Caesar  made  use 
of  an  elephant  armed  with  iron  plates  and  carrying  on  its 
back  a  tower  full  of  armed  men  to  terrify  the  ancient 
Britons  when  he  crossed  the  Thames — an  operation  which 
he  carried  out,  I  believe,  somewhere  between  Molesey  and 
Staines. 

Elephants  are  often  spoken  of  as  "  Ungulates,"  and  classed 
by  naturalists  with  the  hoofed  animals  (the  odd-toed 
tapirs,  rhinoceroses,  and  horses,  and  the  even-toed  pigs, 
camel,  cattle,  and  deer).  But  there  is  not  much  to  say 
in  defence  of  such  an  association.  The  elephants  have, 
as  a  matter  of  fact,  not  got  hoofs,  and  they  have  five  toes 
on  each  foot.  The  five  toes  of  the  front  foot  have  each  a 
nail,  whilst  usually  only  four  toes  of  the  hind  foot  have 
nails.  A  speciality  of  the  elephant  is  the  great  circular 
pad  of  thick  skin  overlying  fat  and  fibrous  tissue,  which 
forms  the  sole  of  the  foot  and  bears  the  animal's 
enormous  weight.  This  buffer-like  development  of  the 
foot  existed  in  some  great  extinct  mammals  (the  Dinoceras 
family,  of  North  America),  but  is  altogether  different 
from  the  support  given  by  a  horse's  hoof  or  the  paired 
shoe-like  hoofs  of  great  cattle  or  the  three  rather  elegant 
hoofed  toes  of  the  rhinoceros. 


THE    ELEPHANTS  LEGS 


129 


The  Indian  elephant  likes  good,  solid  ground  to  walk 
on,  and  when  he  finds  himself  in  a  boggy  place  will  seize 
any  large  objects  (preferably  big  branches  of  trees)  and 
throw  them  under  his  feet  to  prevent  himself  sinking  in. 
Occasionally  he  will  remove  the  stranger  who  is  riding  on 
his  back  and  make  use  of  him  in  this  way.  The  circum- 
ference of  the  African  elephant's  fore-foot  is  found  by 
hunters  to  be  half  the  animal's  height  at  the  shoulder,  and 
is  regarded  as  furnishing  a  trustworthy  indication  of  his 
stature. 

The  legs  of  the  elephant  differ  from  those  of  more 
familiar  large  animals  in  the  fact  that  the  ankle  and  the 
wrist  (the  so-called  knee  of  the  horse's  fore-leg)  are  not  far 
above  the  sole  of  the  foot  (resembling  man's  joints  in 
that  respect),  whilst  the  true  knee-joint  (called  "  the 
stifle  "  in  horses) — instead  of  being,  as  in  horses,  high  up, 
close  against  the  body,  strongly  flexed  even  when  at  rest, 
and  obscured  by  the  skin — is  far  below  the  body,  free  and 
obvious  enough.  In  fact,  the  elephant  keeps  the  thigh 
and  the  upper  arm  perpendicular  and  in  line  with  the 
lower  segment  of  the  limb  when  he  is  standing,  so  that 
the  legs  are  pillar-like.  But  he  bends  the  joints  amply 
when  in  quick  movement.  The  hind  legs  seen  in  action 
resemble,  in  the  proportions  of  thigh,  fore-leg,  and  foot, 
and  the  bending  at  the  knee  and  ankle,  very  closely  those 
of  a  man  walking  on  "  all  fours."  The  elephant  as 
known  in  Europe  more  than  300  years  ago  was  rarely 
seen  in  free  movement.  He  was  kept  chained  up  in 
his  stall,  resting  on  his  straight,  pillar-like  legs  and  their 
pad-like  feet.  And  with  that  curious  avidity  for  the 
marvellous  which  characterised  serious  writers  in  those 
days  to  the  exclusion  of  any  desire  or  attempt  to  ascertain 
the  truth,  it  was  coolly  asserted,  and  then  commonly 
believed,  that  the  elephant  could  not  bend  his  legs. 
Shakespeare — who,  of  course,  is  merely  using  a  common 

9 


130  ELEPHANTS 

belief  of  his  time  as  a  chance  illustration  of  human  character 
— makes  Ulysses  say  (referring  to  his  own  stiffness  of 
carriage)  ("  Troilus  and  Cressida,"  Act  II)  :  "  The  elephant 
hath  joints,  but  none  for  courtesy  ;  his  legs  are  legs  for 
necessity,  not  for  flexure."  An  old  writer  says  :  "  The 
elephant  hath  no  joints,  and,  being  unable  to  lye  down,  it 
lieth  against  a  tree,  which,  the  hunters  observing,  do  saw 
almost  asunder ;  whereon  the  beast  relying — by  the  fall 
of  .the  tree  falls  also  down  itself,  and  is  able  to  rise  no 
more."  Another  old  writer  (Bartholomew,  1485),  says, 
more  correctly  :  "  When  the  elephant  sitteth  he  bendeth 
his  feet ;  he  bendeth  the  hinder  legs  right  as  a  man." 

A  writer  of  120  years  later  in  date  (Topsell)  says:  "  In 
the  River  Ganges  there  are  blue  worms  of  sixty  cubits 
long  having  two  arms  ;  these  when  the  elephants  come  to 
drink  in  that  river  take  their  trunks  in  their  hands  and 
pull  them  off.  At  the  sight  of  a  beautiful  woman  elephants 
leave  off  all  rage  and  grow  meek  and  gentle.  In  Africa 
there  are  certain  springs  of  water  which,  if  at  any  time 
they  dry  up,  they  are  opened  and  recovered  again  by  the 
teeth  of  elephants."  The  blue  worm  of  the  Ganges 
referred  to  is  no  doubt  the  crocodile  ;  both  in  India  and 
Africa  animals  coming  to  the  rivers  to  drink  are  seized  by 
lurking  crocodiles,  who  fix  their  powerful  jaws  on  to  the 
face  (snout  or  muzzle)  of  the  drinking  animal  and  drag  it 
under  the  water.  Thus  the  fable  has  arisen  of  the  origin 
of  the  elephant's  trunk  as  recounted  by  Mr.  Rudyard 
Kipling.  A  young  elephant  (before  the  days  of  trunks), 
according  to  this  authority,  when  drinking  at  a  riverside 
had  his  moderate  and  well-shaped  snout  seized  by  a 
crocodile.  The  little  elephant  pulled  and  the  crocodile 
pulled,  and  by  the  help  of  a  friendly  python  the  elephant 
got  the  best  of  it.  He  extricated  himself  from  the  jaws  of 
death.  But,  oh  !  what  a  difference  in  his  appearance ! 
His  snout  was  drawn  out  so  as  to  form  that  wonderful 


TUSKS  USED   IN  DIGGING  131 

elongated  thing  with  two  nostrils  at  the  end  which  we  call 
the  elephant's  trunk,  and  was  henceforth  transmitted  (a 
first-rate  example  of  an  "  acquired  character  ")  to  future 
generations  !  The  real  origin  of  the  elephant's  trunk  is 
(as  I  will  explain  later)  a  different  one  from  that 
handed  down  to  us  in  the  delightful  jungle-book.  I 
do  not  believe  in  the  hereditary  transmission  of  acquired 
modifications  ! 

Topsell  may  or  may  not  be  right  as  to  the  result  produced 
on  elephants  by  the  sight  of  a  beautiful  woman.  In  Africa 
the  experiment  would  be  a  difficult  one,  and  even  in  India 
inconclusive.  Topsell  seems,  however,  to  have  come 
across  correct  information  about  the  digging  for  water  by 
an  African  elephant  by  the  use  of  his  great  tusks — those 
tusks  for  the  gain  of  which  he  is  now  being  rapidly 
exterminated  by  man.  Serious  drought  is  frequent  in 
Africa,  and  a  cause  of  death  to  thousands  of  animals. 
African  elephants,  working  in  company,  are  known  to  have 
excavated  holes  in  dried-up  river  beds  to  the  depth  of  2  5  ft, 
in  a  single  night  in  search  of  water.  It  is  probable  that 
the  Indian  elephant's  tusk  would  not  be  of  service  in  such 
digging,  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that  he  is  rather  an  inhabi- 
tant of  high  ground  and  table-lands  than  of  tropical 
plains  liable  to  flood  and  to  drought.  The  tusk  of  the 
Indian  elephant  has  become  merely  a  weapon  of  attack  for 
the  male,  and  there  are  even  local  breeds  in  which  it  is 
absent  in  the  males  as  well  as  in  the  females.  The 
mammoth  was  a  near  cousin  of  the  Indian  elephant,  and 
inhabited  cold  uplands  and  the  fringes  of  sub- Arctic  forests, 
on  which  he  fed.  His  tusks  were  very  large,  and  curved 
first  outward  and  then  inward  at  the  tips.  They  would 
not  have  served  for  heavy  digging,  and  probably  were  used 
for  forcing  a  way  through  the  forest  and  as  a  protection  to 
the  face  and  trunk. 

The  trunk  of  the  elephant  was  called  "  a  hand  "  by  old 


132  ELEPHANTS 

writers,  and  it  seems  to  have  acted  in  the  development  of 
the  elephant's  intelligence  in  the  same  way  as  man's  hand 
has  in  regard  to  his  mental  growth,  though  in  a  less  degree. 
The  Indian  elephant  has  a  single  tactile  and  grasping 
projection  (sometimes  called  "  a  finger ")  placed  above 
between  the  two  nostrils  at  the  end  of  the  trunk  ;  the 
African  elephant  has  one  above  and  one  below.  I  have 
seen  the  elephant  pick  up  with  this  wonderful  trunk  with 
equal  facility  a  heavy  man  and  then  a  threepenny  piece. 

The  intelligence  of  the  elephant  is  sometimes  exag- 
gerated by  reports  and  stories  ;  sometimes  it  is  not  suffi- 
ciently appreciated.  It  is  not  fair  to  compare  the  intelligence 
of  the  elephant  with  that  of  the  dog — bred  and  trained  by 
man  for  thousands  of  years.  So  far  as  one  can  judge, 
there  is  no  wild  animal,  excepting  the  higher  apes,  which 
exhibits  so  much  and  such  varied  intelligence  as  the  elephant. 
It  appears  that  from  early  tertiary  times  (late  Eocene)  the 
ancestors  of  elephants  have  had  large  brains,  whilst,  when 
we  go  back  so  far  as  this,  the  ancestors  of  nearly  all  other 
animals  had  brains  a  quarter  of  the  size  (and  even  less  in 
proportion  to  body-size)  which  their  modern  representatives 
have.  Probably  the  early  possession  of  a  large  brain  at  a 
geological  period  when  brains  were  as  a  rule  small  is  what 
has  enabled  the  elephants  not  only  to  survive  until  to-day, 
but  to  spread  over  the  whole  world  (except  Australia),  and 
to  develop  an  immense  variety  and  number  of  individuals 
throughout  the  tertiary  series  in  spite  of  their  ungainly 
size.  It  is  only  the  yet  bigger  brain  of  man  which  (would 
it  were  not  so  !)  is  now  at  last  driving  this  lovable  giant,  this 
vast  compound  of  sagacity  and  strength,  out  of  existence. 
The  elephant — like  man  standing  on  his  hind  legs — has  a 
wide  survey  of  things  around  him  owing  to  his  height.  He 
can  take  time  to  allow  of  cerebral  intervention  in  his  actions 
since  he  is  so  large  that  he  has  little  cause  to  be  afraid  and 
to  hurry.  He  has  a  fine  and  delicate  exploring  organ  in 


ELEPHANTS  USED   IN  WAR  133 

his  trunk,  with  its  hand-like  termination  ;  with  this  he  can, 
and  does, experiment  and  builds  up  his  individual  knowledge 
and  experience.  Elephants  act  together  in  the  wild  state, 
aiding  one  another  to  uproot  trees  too  large  for  one  to  deal 
with  alone.  They  readily  understand  and  accept  the  guid- 
ance of  man,  and  with  very  small  persuasion  and  teaching 
execute  very  dextrous  work — such  as  the  piling  of  timber. 
If  man  had  selected  the  more  intelligent  elephants  for 
breeding  over  a  space  of  a  couple  of  thousand  years  a 
prodigy  of  animal  intelligence  would  have  resulted. .  But 
man  has  never  "  bred  "  the  elephant  at  all. 

The  Greeks  and  Romans  knew  ivory  first,  and  then 
became  acquainted  with  the  elephant.  The  island  of 
Elephantina  in  the  Nile  was  from  the  earliest  times  a  seat 
of  trade  in  the  ivory  tusks  of  the  African  elephant,  and  so 
acquired  its  name.  Herodotus  is  the  first  to  mention  the 
elephant  itself;  Homer  only  refers  to  the  ivory  by  the  word 
"elephas."  Aristotle  in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  is  more 
correct  than  later  writers.  He  probably  received  first-hand 
information  about  the  elephant  from  Alexander  and  some 
of  his  men  after  their  Indian  expedition.  The  Romans 
had  an  unpleasant  first  personal  experience  of  elephants 
when  Pyrrhus,  King  of  Epirus,  landed  a  number  with  his 
army  and  put  the  Roman  soldiers  to  flight.  But  the 
Romans  then,  and  continually  in  after-times,  showed  their 
cool  heads  and  sound  judgment  in  a  certain  contempt  for 
elephants  as  engines  of  war.  They  soon  learned  to  dig 
pits  on  the  battlefield  to  entrap  the  great  beasts,  and  they 
deliberately  made  for  the  elephant's  trunks,  hewing  them 
through  with  their  swords,  so  that  the  agonised  and 
maddened  creatures  turned  round  and  trampled  down  the 
troops  of  their  own  side.  The  Romans  only  used  them 
subsequently  to  terrify  barbaric  people,  and  as  features  in 
military  processions.  But  Eastern  nations  used  them 
extensively  in  war.  In  A.D.  217  Antiochus  the  Great 


134  ELEPHANTS 

brought  2  I  7  elephants  in  his  army  against  73  employed  by 
Ptolemy,  at  what  was  called  "the  Battle  of  the  Elephants." 
The  battle  commenced  by  the  charging  head  to  head  of 
the  opposing  elephants  and  the  discharge  of  arrows,  spears 
and  stones  by  the  men  in  the  towers  on  their  backs. 

An  interesting  question  has  been  raised  as  to  whether 
the  elephants  used  by  the  Carthaginians  were  the  African 
species  or  the  Indian.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  ele- 
phants of  Pyrrhus  and  those  known  to  Alexander  were 
the  Indian,  though  they  were  taken  in  those  days  much  to 
the  West  of  India,  namely,  in  Mesopotamia,  and  it  would 
not  have  been  difficult  for  the  Cathaginians  to  convey 
Indian  elephants,  which  had  certainly  been  brought  as  far 
as  Egypt,  along  the  Mediterranean  coast.  An  unfounded 
prejudice  as  to  the  want  of  docility  of  the  African  elephant 
has  favoured  the  notion  that  the  Carthaginians  used  the 
Indian  elephant.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  no  one  in  modern 
times  has  tried  to  train  the  African  elephant,  except  here 
and  there  in  a  zoological  garden.  Probably  the  Indian 
"  mahout,"  or  elephant  trainer  could,  if  he  were  put  to  it, 
do  as  much  with  an  African  as  he  does  with  an  Indian 
elephant.  It  would  be  an  interesting  experiment.  In  the 
next  place,  there  is  decisive  evidence  that  it  was  the  African 
elephant  which  the  Carthaginians  used,  since  we  have  a 
Carthaginian  coin  (Fig.  12)  on  which  is  beautifully  repre- 
sented— in  unmistakable  modelling — the  African  elephant, 
with  his  large  triangular  cape-like  ears  and  his  sloping 
forehead.  In  the  time  of  Hannibal  there  were  stables  for 
over  300  of  these  elephants  at  Carthage,  and  he  took  fifty 
with  him  to  the  South  of  France  with  his  army  for  the 
Italian  invasion.  He  only  got  thirty-seven  safely  over  the 
Rhone,  and  all  but  a  dozen  or  so  died  in  the  terrible  passage 
of  the  Alps.  After  the  battle  of  Trebia  he  had  only  eight 
left,  and  when  he  had  crossed  the  Apennines  there  was  only 
one  still  alive.  On  this  Hannibal  himself  rode. 


GEOLOGICAL   STRATA  SINGE  THE   CHALK  135 

Since  the  period  when  the  white  chalk  which  now  forms 
our  cliffs  and  hills  was  deposited  at  the  bottom  of  a  vast 
and  deep  ocean- — the  sea  bottom  has  been  raised,  the  chalk 
has  emerged  and  risen  on  the  top  of  hills  to  800  ft.  in 
height  in  our  own  islands,  and  to  ten  times  that  height 
elsewhere,  and  during  that  process  sands  and  clays  and 
shelly  gravels  have  been  deposited  to  the  thickness  of  some 
2800  ft.  by  seas  and  estuaries  and  lakes,  which  have  come 
and  gone  on  the  face  of  Europe  and  of  other  parts  of  the 
world  as  it  has  slowly  sunk  and  slowly  risen  again.  The 
last  200  ft.  or  so  of  deposits  we  call  the  Pleistocene  or 
Quaternary  ;  the  rest  are  known  as  the  Tertiary  strata. 
They  are  only  a  small  part  of  the  total  thickness  of 
aqueous  deposit  of  stratified  rock — which  amounts  to 
60,000  ft.  more  before  the  earliest  remains  of  life  in  the 
Cambrian  beds  are  reached,  whilst  older  than,  and  therefore 
below  this,  we  have  another  50,000  ft.  of  water-made  rock 
which  yields  no  fossils — no  remains  of  living  things,  though 
living  things  were  certainly  there  !  Our  little  layer  of 
Tertiary  strata  on  the  top  is,  however,  very  important.  It 
took  several  million  years  in  forming,  although  it  is  only 
one-fortieth  of  the  whole  thickness  of  aqueous  deposit  on 
the  crust  of  the  earth.  We  divide  it  into  Pliocene,  Miocene, 
and  Eocene,  and  each  of  these  into  upper,  middle,  and 
lower,  the  Eocene  being  the  oldest.  Our  London  clay  and 
Woolwich  sands  are  lower  Eocene ;  there  is  a  good  deal 
of  Miocene  in  Switzerland  and  Germany,  whilst  the  Pliocene 
is  represented  by  whole  provinces  of  Italy,  parts  of  central 
France,  and  by  the  White  and  Red  "  crags  "  of  Suffolk  * 

It  is  during  this  Tertiary  period  that  the  mammals — the 
warm-blooded,  hairy  quadrupeds,  which  suckle  their  young 

*  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  the  line  between  Pliocene  and  Pleistocene 
or  Quaternary  ought,  in  this  country,  to  be  drawn  between  the  White  and 
Red  Crag  of  Suffolk.  Glacial  conditions  set  in  and  were  recurrent  from  the 
commencement  of  the  Red  Crag  deposit  onwards. 


136  ELEPHANTS 

— have  developed  (they  had  come  into  existence  a  good 
deal  earlier),  and  we  find  the  remains  of  ancestral  forms  of 
the  living  kinds  of  cattle,  pigs,  horses,  rhinoceroses,  tapirs, 
elephants,  lions,  wolves,  bears,  etc.,  embedded   in   the  suc- 
cessive  layers    of   Tertiary   deposits.      Naturally    enough, 
those    most    like   the   present   animals    are   found    in   late 
Pliocene,    and    those    which    are    close    to    the    common 
ancestors  of  many   of  the   later  kinds    are   found    in   the 
Eocene,  whilst  we  also  find,  at  various  levels  of  the  Ter- 
tiary deposit,  remains  of  side-branches  of  the  mammalian 
pedigree,  which,  though  including  very  powerful  and  remark- 
able beasts,  have  left  no  line  of  descent  to  represent  them 
at  the  present  day.      We  have  been  able  to  trace  the  great 
modern  one-toed  horses,  zebras,  and  asses,  with  their  com- 
plicated  pattern  of  grinding-teeth  back   by  quite  gradual 
steps  (represented  by  the  bones  and  teeth  of  fossil   kinds 
of  horses),  to   smaller    three-toed    animals    with    simpler 
tuberculated  teeth,  and  even,  without  any  marked  break  in 
the  series,  to  a  small  Eocene  animal  (not   bigger  than   a 
spaniel)  with  four  equal-sized   toes  on    its   front  foot,  and 
three  on  its  hind  foot.      We  know,  too,  a  less  direct  series 
of  intermediate  forms  leading  beyond    this    to   an   animal 
with  five  toes  on  each  foot  and  "  typical "  teeth.      In  fact, 
no    one    doubts    that   (leaving   aside   a  few   difficult  and 
doubtful    cases)    all    such  •  big    existing    mammals,    as    I 
mentioned  above,  as  well  as  monkeys  and  man,  are  derived 
from  small  mammals — intermediate  in  most  ways  between 
a   hedgehog   and    a   pig — which    flourished   in   very  early 
Eocene  times,  and   had    five  toes   on  each  foot,   and   "  a 
typical  dentition."      Even  the  elephants  came  from  such  a 
small  ancestral  form.      The  common  notion  that  the  extinct 
fore-runners   of  existing  animals  were   much  bigger  than 
recent  kinds,  and  even  gigantic,   is  not   in  accordance  \vith 
fact.      Some   extinct  animals   were   of  very   great   size — 
especially  the  great  reptiles  of  the  period   long  before  the 


ANCESTRAL   MAMMALS 


137 


Tertiaries,  and  before  the  chalk.  But  the  recent  horse,  the 
recent  elephant,  the  giraffe,  the  lions,  bears,  and  others,  are 
bigger — some  much  bigger — than  the  ancestral  forms,  to 
which  we  can  trace  them  by  the  wonderfully  preserved  and 
wonderfully  collected  and  worked-out  fossilised  bones  dis- 
covered in  the  successive  layers  of  the  Pliocene,  Miocene, 


FIG.  14.— Skeleton  of  the  Indian  elephant.     Only  four  toes  are  visible, 
the  fifth  concealed  owing  to  the  view  from  the  side. 

and    Eocene   strata,   leading   us   as  we  descend   to   more 
primitive,  simplified,  and  smaller  ancestors. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  the  initial  character  of  the  foot 
of  the  early  ancestral  mammals.  It  had  five  toes.  By 
the  suppression  or  atrophy  of  first  the  innermost  toe,  then 
of  the  outermost,  you  find  that  mammals  may  first  acquire 
four  toes  only,  and  then  only  three,  and  by  repeating  the 


I38  ELEPHANTS 

process  the  toes  may  be  reduced  to  two,  or  right  away  to 
one,  the  original  middle  toe.  There  is  no  special  difficulty 
about  tracing  back  the  elephants  in  so  far  as  this  matter 
is  concerned,  since  they  have  kept  (like  man  and  some 
other  mammals)  the  full  typical  complement  of  five  toes 
on  each  foot. 

But  I  must  explain  a  little  more  at  length  what  was  the 
"  typical  dentition," — that  is  to  say,  the  exact  number  and 
form  of  the  teeth  in  each  half  of  the  upper  and  the  lower 
jaw  of  the  early  mammalian  ancestor  of  lower  Eocene 
times,  or  just  before.  The  jaws  were  drawn  out  into  a 
snout  or  muzzle,  an  elongated,  protruding  "  face,"  as  in  a 
dog  or  deer  or  hedgehog,  and  there  were  numerous  teeth 
set  in  a  row  along  the  gums  of  the  upper  and  the  lower 
jaw.  The  teeth  were  the  same  in  number,  in  upper  and 
in  lower  jaw,  and  so  formed  as  to  work  together,  those  of 
the  lower  jaw  shutting  as  a  rule  just  a  little  in  front  of  the 
corresponding  teeth  of  the  upper  jaw.  There  were  above 
and  below,  in  front,  six  small  chisel-like  teeth,  which  we 
call  "  the  incisors."  At  the  corner  of  the  mouth  above  and 
below  on  each  side  flanking  these  was  a  corner  tooth,  or 
dog-tooth,  a  little  bigger  than  the  incisors,  and  more 
pointed  and  projecting.  These  we  call  "  the  canines,"  four 
in  all.  Then  we  turn  the  corner  of  the  mouth-front,  as  it 
were,  and  come  to  the  "  grinders,"  cheek-teeth  or  molars. 
These  are  placed  in  a  row  along  each  half  of  upper  and 
lower  jaw.  In  our  early  mammalian  ancestor  they  were 
seven  in  number,  with  broader  crowns  than  the  peg-like 
incisors  and  canines,  the  bright  polished  enamel  of  the 
crown  being  raised  up  into  two,  three  or  four  cone-like 
prominences.  The  back  grinders  are  broader  and  bigger 
than  those  nearer  the  dog-tooth.  The  three  hindermost 
grinders  in  each  half  of  each  jaw  are  not  replaced  by 
"  second  "  teeth,  whilst  all  the  other  teeth  are. 

Now  this  typical   set   of  teeth — consisting   of  twenty- 


TYPICAL  OR  ANCESTRAL  SET  OF  TEETH    139 

eight  grinders,  four  canines,  and  twelve  incisors — is  not 
found  complete  in  many  mammals  at  the  present  day, 
though  it  is  found  more  frequently  as  we  go  back  to 
earlier  strata.*  Though  some  mammals  have  kept  close  to 
the  original  number,  they  have  developed  peculiar  shape 
and  qualities  in  some  of  the  teeth  as  well  as  changes  in 
size.  The  common  pig  still  keeps  the  typical  number 
(Fig.  15).  But  he  has  developed  the  corner  teeth  or 
canines  into  enormous  tusks  both  in  the  upper  and  lower 
jaw,  and  the  more  anterior  grinders  have  become  quite 
minute.  The  cats  (lions  and  tigers  included)  have  kept  the 
full  number  of  incisors  (see  figs.  26  and  27,  pp.  160,  161) ; 
they  have  developed  the  four  canines  into  enormous  and 
deadly  stabbing  "  fangs,"  and  they  have  lost  all  the 
grinders  but  three  in  each  half  of  the  lower  jaw  and 
four  in  each  half  of  the  upper  jaw  (twelve  instead  of 
twenty-eight),  and  these  have  become  sharp-edged  so  as 
to  be  scissor-like  in  their  action,  instead  of  crushing  or 
grinding.  Man  and  the  old-world  monkeys  have  lost 
an  incisor  in  each  half  of  each  jaw  (see  Pis.  VII  and  VIII)  ; 
they  retain  the  canines,  but  have  only  five  molars  in  each 
half  of  each  jaw  (twenty  in  all  instead  of  twenty-eight). 
Most  of  the  mammals  —  whatever  change  of  number 
and  shape  has  befallen  their  teeth  in  adaptation  to  their 
different  requirements  as  to  the  kind  of  food  and  mode  of 
getting  it — have  retained  a  good  long  pair  of  jaws  and  a 
snout  or  muzzle  consisting  of  nose,  upper  jaw,  and  lower 
jaw,  projecting  well  in  front  of  the  eyes  and  brain-case. 

*  Mammals  having  the  number  and  form  of  teeth  which  I  have  just 
described  as  typical — or  such  modification  of  it  as  can  easily  be  produced 
by  suppression  of  some  teeth  and  enlargement  of  others — are  called  Typi- 
dentata.  On  the  other  hind,  the  whales,  the  sloths,  ant-eaters,  and  arma- 
dilloes,  as  also  the  Marsupials,  are  called  Variodentata,  because  we  cannot 
derive  their  teeth  from  those  of  the  Typidentate  ancestor.  They  form  lines 
of  descent  which  separated  from  the  other  mammals  before  the  Typidentate 
ancestor  of  all,  except  the  groups  just  named,  was  evolved. 


140 


ELEPHANTS 


UPPER 


LOWER 


FIG.  15. — The  teeth  in  the  upper  and  lower  jaw-bone  of  the  common 
pig — drawn  from  photographs.  A  and  B  represent  the  right  half  of 
the  lower  jaw  (A)  and  the  right  half  of  the  upper  jaw  (B)  seen  in 
horizontal  position.  Inc.  are  the  incisors  or  chisel-like  front  teeth, 
three  in  number,  in  each  half  of  each  jaw  and  marked  i,  2,  3.  C 
marks  the  canine  or  dog-tooth,  which  here  grows  to  be  a  large  tusk. 
The  molars,  "  grinders,"  or  cheek  teeth  are  marked  I  to  7.  Figs. 
C  and  D  give  a  side  view  of  the  left  halves  of  the  upper  (c)  and  of 
the  lower  jaw-bone  (D),  with  the  teeth  in  place.  The  bone  has  been 
partly  cut  away  so  as  to  show  the  fangs  or  roots  of  the  teeth,  which 
are  double  in  the  molars,  and  even  three-fold  in  molar  No.  7.  The 
explanation  of  the  lettering  is  the  same  as  that  given  for  figs.  A 
and  B.  The  letter  p  in  Fig.  B  points  to  a  "foramen  "  or  hole  in 
the  upper  jaw-bone.  These  drawings  are  introduced  here  as  show- 


PECULIARITIES   OF  TEETH   OF  ELEPHANTS  141 

Man  is  remarkable  as  an  exception.  In  the  higher  races 
of  men  the  jaws  are  shorter  than  in  the  lower  races,  and 
project  but  very  little  beyond  the  vertical  plane  of  the 
eyes,  whilst  the  nose  projects  beyond  the  lips.  Another 
exception  is  the  elephant.  This  is  most  obvious  when  the 
prepared  bony  skull  and  lower  jaw  are  examined,  but  can 
be  sufficiently  clearly  seen  in  the  living  animal.  The 
lower  jaw  and  the  part  of  the  upper  jaw  against  which  it 
and  its  grinders  play  is  extraordinarily  short  and  small, 
The  elephant  has,  in  fact,  no  projecting  bony  jaw  at  all, 
no  bony  snout,  its  chin  does  not  project  more  than  that  of 
an  old  man,  and  even  the  part  of  the  upper  jaw  into  which 
its  great  tusks  are  set  does  not  bend  forward  far  from  the 
perpendicular  (Fig.  14). 

The  elephant  (see  Fig.  1 4)  has  no  sign  of  the  six  little 
front  teeth  (incisors)  above  and  below  which  we  find  in 
the  typical  dentition  and  in  many  living  mammals,  nor  of 
the  corner  teeth  (dog-teeth,  or  canines).  In  the  upper 
jaw  in  front  there  is  the  one  huge  tusk  on  each  side,  and 
in  the  lower  jaw  no  front  teeth  at  all  !  Then  as  to  the 
grinders.  In  the  elephant  these  are  enormous,  with  many 
transverse  ridges  on  the  elongated  crown,  and  so  big  that 
there  is  only  room  for  one  at  a  time  in  each  half  of  upper 
and  lower  jaw.  Six  of  these  succeed  one  another  in  each 
half  of  each  jaw,  and  correspond  (though  greatly  altered) 
to  six  of  the  seven  grinders  of  the  typical  dentition.  Are 
there  amongst  older  fossil  elephants  and  animals  like 
elephants  any  which  have  an  intermediate  condition  of 
the  teeth,  connecting  the  extremely  peculiar  teeth  of  the 


ing  the  complete  number  of  teeth  which  the  ancestor  of  pigs,  goats, 
elephants,  dogs,  tigers,  men,  and  even  whales  possessed.  The  re- 
duction in  number  and  the  alteration  in  the  shape  of  the  primitive 
full  set  of  teeth  is  referred  to  in  the  present  chapter  on  "  Elephants," 
and  in  those  on  "  Vegetarians  and  their  Teeth  "  (p.  159),  and  on 
"  A  Strange  Extinct  Beast  "  (p.  148). 


142 


ELEPHANTS 


modern  elephants  with  the  typical  dentition  such  as  is 
approached  by  the  pig,  the  dog,  the  tapir,  and  the  hedge- 
hog ?  There  are  such  links.  We  know  a  great  many 
elephants  from  Pleistocene  and  Pliocene  strata — some  from 
European  localities,  more  from  India,  and  some  from 
America.  A  little  elephant  not  more  than  3  ft.  high  when 
adult  is  found  fossil  in  the  island  of  Malta  ;  other  species 
were  a  little  larger  than  the  living  African  elephant. 
Whilst  the  Indian  elephant  has  as  many  as  twenty-four 
cross-riclges  on  its  biggest  grinding  tooth  (Fig.  13)  there 


FIG.  16. — A  reconstruction  of  the  extinct  American  mastodon 
(Mastodon  ohioticus)  from  a  drawing  by  Prof.  Osborne.  Other 
extinct  species  of  mastodon  are  found  in  Europe. 

is  a  fossil  kind  which  has  only  six  such  ridges.  But 
besides  true  elephants  we  know  from  the  Pliocene,  Miocene, 
and  Upper  Eocene  of  the  old  world,  the  remains  of 
elephant-like  creatures  (some  as  big  as  true  elephants), 
which  are  distinguished  by  the  name  "  Mastodon" 
(Fig.  1 6).  And,  in  fact,  we  are  conducted  through  a  series 
of  changes  of  form  by  ancient  elephant-like  creatures 
which  are  of  older  and  older  date  as  we  pass  along  the  series, 
and  are  known  as  (i)  Mastodon,  (2)  Tetrabelodon,  (3) 
Palaeomastodon,  (4)  Meritherium,  until  we  come  to  some- 
thing approaching  the  general  form  of  skull  and  skeleton 


EXTINCT   RELATIVES   OF   ELEPHANTS      143 

and  the  typical  dentition  of  the  early  mammalian  ancestor. 
Mastodons  of  several  species  are  found  in  Pliocene  strata 
in  Europe  and  Asia  ;  detached  teeth  are  found  in  Suffolk. 
One  species  actually  survived  (why,  we  do  not  know) 
in  North  America  into  the  early  human  period,  and  whole 
skeletons  of  it  are  dug  out  from  morasses  such  as  that  ot 


FIGS.  17. — A.  skull,  and  B.  restored  outline  of  the  head  of  the  long- 
jawed  extinct  elephant  called  Tetrabelodon — the  name  referring  to 
its  four  large  tusks — two  above  and  two  below. 

"  Big-bone  Lick."  The  Mastodons  had  a  longer  jaw  and 
face  than  the  elephants,  though  closely  allied  to  them. 
They  bring  one  nearer  to  ordinary  mammals  in  that  fact, 
and  also  in  having  (when  young)  two  front  teeth  or 
incisors  in  the  lower  jaw.  Their  grinders  had  the  crowns 
less  elongated  than  those  of  elephants,  and  there  were 


144  ELEPHANTS 

only  five  cross-ridges — on  the  biggest — and  these  ridges 
tend  to  divide  into  separate  cones  (Fig.  13).  So  here,  too, 
we  are  approaching  the  ordinary  mammals,  of  which  we 
may  keep  the  pig  and  the  tapir  in  mind  as  samples.  But 
the  Mastodons  still  had  the  great  trunk  and  huge  tusks  of 
the  elephants. 

Next  we  must  look  at  Tetrabelodon  (Fig.  17),  and  it  is 
this  creature  which  has  really  revealed  the  history  of  the 
strange  metamorphosis  by  which  elephants  were  produced. 
The  Tetrabelodon  is  known  as  "  the  long-jawed  masto- 
don," because,  as  was  shown  in  a  wonderfully  well-preserved 
skeleton  from  the  Lower  Pliocene  of  the  centre  of  France, 
set  up  in  the  Paris  Museum,  it  had  a  lower  jaw  of 
enormous  length,  ending  in  two  large  horizontally  directed 
teeth  (Fig.  17).  Instead  of  a  lower  jaw  a  foot  long,  as 
in  an  elephant  or  in  the  common  kind  of  mastodon — this 
long-jawed  kind  had  a  lower  jaw  5ft.  or  6ft.  long!  The 
tusks  of  the  upper  jaw  were  large,  and  nearly  horizontal 
in  direction,  bent  downwards  a  little  on  each  side  of 
the  long  lower  jaw.  This  lower  jaw  seemed  incompre- 
hensible, almost  a  monstrosity — until  it  occurred  to  me 
that  it  exactly  corresponds  to  the  elongated  upper  lip  and 
nose  which  we  call  the  elephant's  trunk — and  that  the 
trunk  of  "  Tetrabelodon  "  must  have  rested  on  his  long 
lower  jaw.  In  descending  to  Tetrabelodon  we  leave 
behind  us  the  elephants  with  hanging  unsupported  trunk  ; 
the  lower  jaw  here  is  of  sufficient  length  to  support 
the  great  trunk.  When  the  lower  jaw  shortened  in  the 
later  mastodons  and  elephants  the  trunk  did  not  shorten 
too,  but  remained  free  and  depending,  capable  of  large 
movement  and  of  grasping  with  its  extremity.  Photo- 
graphs, casts,  and  actual  specimens  of  the  extraordinary 
skull  of  the  long-jawed  mastodon  or  Tetrabelodon  and  of 
the  creatures  mentioned  below  may  be  seen  in  the  Natural 
History  Museum. 


ANCESTORS   OF   ELEPHANTS 


145 


Lastly  we  have  the  wonderful  series  of  discoveries  made 
about  twelve  years  ago  by  Dr.  Andrews  (of  the  Natural 
History  Museum)  of  elephant-like  creatures  in  the  upper 
Eocene  of  the  Fayoum  desert  in  Egypt.  Palaeomastodon 
(the  name  given  by  Dr.  Andrews  to  one  of  them)  is  a  "  pig- 
like  "  mastodon,  with  an  elongated,  bony  face,  the  tusks  of 
moderate  size,  and  the  lower  jaw  not  projecting  more  than 
a  few  inches  beyond  them,  so  that  the  proboscis  is  quite 
short  and  rests  well  on  it  (Fig.  I  8).  This  animal  had  six 
moderate-sized  grinders  (molars  or  cheek  teeth)  on  each 


FIG.  18. — Head  of  the  ancestral  elephant — Palaeomastodon — as  it 
appeared  in  life.  It  shows,  as  compared  with  the  earlier  ancestor, 
an  elongation  both  of  the  snout  and  the  lower  jaw.  The  tusk  in 
the  upper  jaw  has  increased  in  size,  but  is  still  small  as  compared 
with  that  of  later  elephants.  (After  a  drawing  by  Prof.  Osborne.) 

side  of  each  jaw  in  position  simultaneously,  as  may  be  seen 
in  the  complete  skull  shown  in  Fig  1 9.  Of  other  teeth  it 
had  only  the  two  moderate-sized  front  tusks  above  and 
two  very  big,  chisel-like  "  incisors "  in  the  front  of  the 
lower  jaw.  Exactly  how  these  were  used  and  for  what 
food  no  one  has  yet  made  out. 

The  remains,  which  finally  bring  the  elephants  into  line 
with  the  ordinary  mammals  with  typical  dentition,  were 
discovered  also  by  Dr.  Andrews  and  named  "  Meri- 

10 


146  ELEPHANTS 

therium "  by  him,  signifying  "  the  beast  of  the  Lake 
Meris."  This  creature  is  not  bigger  than  a  tapir,  and  had 
the  shape  of  head  and  face  which  we  see  in  that  and  the 
ordinary  hoofed  animals  (Fig.  20).  It  had  no  trunk,  and 
whilst  it  had  six  small  and  simplified  mastodon-like 
grinders  in  each  half  of  each  jaw,  it  had  six  incisors  in  the 
upper  jaw  and  a  canine  or  corner  tooth  on  each  side.  In 


FIG.  19. — Restored  model  of  the  skull  and  lower  jaw  of  the  ancestral 
elephant  Palaeomastodon  from  the  upper  Eocene  strata  of  the 
Fayoum  Desert,  Egypt.  It  shows  the  six  molar  teeth  of  the  upper 
and  lower  jaw  (left  side),  the  tusk-like  upper  incisors  and  the  large 
chisel-like  lower  incisors  in  front. 

the  lower  jaw  there  were  only  two  large  incisors  besides 
the  cheek-teeth  or  grinders.  Not  the  least  interesting 
point  about  Meritherium  is  that  it  tells  us  which  of  the 
front  upper  teeth  have  become  the  huge  tusks  of  the  later 
elephants.  Counting  from  the  middle  line  there  are 
in  Meritherium  three  incisors  right  and  three  left.  The 
second  of  these  upper  teeth  on  each  side  is  much  larger 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   ELEPHANT'S  TRUNK     147 

than  the  others.  It  is  this  (seen  in  Fig.  20)  which  has 
grown  larger  and  larger  in  later  descendants  of  this 
primitive  form  and  become  the  elephant's  tusk,  whilst  all 
the  others  have  disappeared. 

We  now  know  the  complete  series  of  steps  connecting 
elephants  with  ordinary  trunkless,  tuskless  mammals. 
The  transition  from  the  "  beast  of  Meris "  on  the  one 
hand  to  the  common  typidentate  mammalian  ancestor, 
and  on  the  other  hand  to  the  elephants,  is  easy,  and 


FIG.  20. —  Head  of  the  early  ancestor  of  elephants — Meritherium — 
as  it  appeared  in  life.  Observe  the  absence  of  a  trunk  and  the 
enlarged  front  tooth  in  the  upper  jaw,  which  is  converted  in  later 
members  of  the  elephant-stock  or  line  of  descent  into  the  great 
tusk.  (After  a  drawing  by  Prof.  Osborne.) 

requires  no  effort  of  the  imagination.  His  short  muzzle 
(upper  and  lower  jaw),  first  elongated  step  by  step  to 
a  considerable  length,  giving  us  Palaeomastodon  (Fig.  I  8). 
Then  the  lower  jaw  shrunk  and  became  shorter  than  it 
was  at  the  start,  and  the  rest  of  the  muzzle  (the  front  part 
of  the  upper  jaw,  carrying  with  it  the  nostrils),  drooped 
and  became  the  mobile  muscular  elephant's  trunk! 


CHAPTER    X 
A    STRANGE    EXTINCT    BEAST 

THE  terraces  of  gravel  deposited  by  existing  rivers 
and  the  deposits  in  caverns  in  the  limestone  regions 
of  Western  Europe — the  so-called  "  Pleistocene  "  strata- 
contain,  besides  the  flint  weapons  of  man  and  rare  speci- 
mens of  his  bones,  the  remains  of  animals  which  are 
either  identical  with  those  living  at  the  present  day 
(though  many  of  them  are  not  living  now  in  Europe)  or 
of  animals  very  closely  similar  to  living  species.  Thus  we 
find  the  bones  of  horses  like  the  wild  horse  of  Mongolia, 
of  the  great  bull  (the  Urus  of  Caesar),  of  the  bison,  of 
deer  and  goats,  of  the  Siberian  big-nosed  antelope,  of  the 
musk-ox  (now  living  within  the  Arctic  circle),  of  the  wild 
boar,  of  the  hippopotamus  (like  that  of  the  Nile),  and  of 
lions,  hyenas,  bears,  and  wolves.  The  most  noteworthy 
of  the  animals  like  to,  but  not  identical  with,  any  living 
species  are  the  mammoth,  which  is  very  close  to  the 
Indian  elephant,  but  has  a  hairy  coat  ;  the  hairy  rhinoceros, 
like,  but  not  quite  the  same  as,  the  African  square-mouthed 
rhinoceros ;  and  the  great  Irish  deer,  which  is  like  a 
giant  fallow-deer.  These  three  animals  are  really  extinct 
kinds  or  species,  but  are  not  very  far  from  living  kinds. 
In  fact,  the  most  recent  geological  deposits  do  not  contain 
any  animals  so  peculiar,  when  compared  with  living 
animals,  as  to  necessitate  a  wide  separation  of  the  fossil 
animal  from  living  "  congeners  "  by  the  naturalist  who 


FOSSIL  SKELETONS  AND  JAW-BONES      149 

classifies  animals  and  tries  to  exhibit  their  degrees  of 
likeness  and  relationship  to  one  another  by  the  names  he 
adopts  for  them.  The  mammoth  is  a  distinct  "  species  " 
of  elephant.  It  requires,  it  is  true,  a  "  specific  "  or  "  second  " 
name  of  its  own  ;  but  it  belongs  to  the  genus  elephant. 
Hence  we  call  it  Elephas  primigenius  ;  whilst  the  living 
Indian  elephant  is  Elephas  Indicus.  The  reader  is  referred 
to  the  preceding  chapter  for  further  notes  about  elephants. 

The  strata  next  below  the  Pleistocene  gravels  and  cave 
deposits  are  ascribed  to  the  "  Pliocene  age  " — older  than 
these  are  the  "  Miocene  "  and  the  "  Eocene,"  and  then  you 
come  to  the  Chalk,  a  good  white  landmark  separating 
newer  from  older  strata. 

We  know  now  in  great  detail  the  skeletons  and  jaws  of 
some  hundreds  of  kinds  of  extinct  animals  of  very 
different  groups  found  in  the  Eocene,  the  Miocene,  the 
Pliocene,  and  the  Pleistocene  layers  of  clays,  sands,  and 
gravels  of  this  part  of  the  world.  Nothing  very  strange 
or  unlike  what  is  now  living  is  found  in  the  Pleistocene — 
the  latest  deposits — but  when  we  go  further  back  strange 
creatures  are  discovered,  becoming  stranger  and  less  like 
living  things  as  we  pass  through  Pliocene  to  Miocene, 
and  on — downwards  in  layers,  backwards  in  time — to  the 
Eocene. 

Though  the  past  history  of  the  Mediterranean  sea  shows 
that  it  was  formerly  not  so  extensive  as  it  is  now,  and 
that  there  were  junctions  between  Europe  and  Africa 
across  its  waters,  yet  the  deeper  parts  of  that  sea  are 
very  ancient,  and  some  of  the  islands  have  long  been 
isolated.  In  Malta  the  remains  of  extraordinary  species 
of  minute  elephants  have  been  found,  one  no  larger  than 
a  small  donkey,  and  in  the  island  of  Cyprus  an  English 
lady,  Miss  Dorothea  Bate,  has  discovered  the  bones  of  a 
pigmy  hippopotamus  (like  that  still  living  in  Liberia) 
no  larger  than  a  sheep.  Miss  Bate  some  three  years 


A   STRANGE   EXTINCT   BEAST 


ago  heard  of  the  existence  of  a  bone-containing  deposit 
of  Pleistocene  age  in  lime-stone  caverns  and  fissures 
in  the  island  of  Majorca,  and  with  the  true  enthusiasm  of 
an  explorer  determined  to  carry  on  some  "  digging  "  there 
and  see  what  might  turn  up.  In  the  following  spring  she 
was  there,  and  obtained  a  number  of  bones,  jaws,  and 
portions  of  skulls,  which  appeared  at  first  sight  to  be  those 
of  a  small  goat.  Its  size  may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that 


FIG.  21. — Side-view  of  the  skull  and  lower  jaw  of  a  goat.  inc.  i.  The 
three  lower  incisor  teeth  of  the  left  side.  can.  i.  The  little  canine 
tooth  grouped  with  them.  p.  The  toothless  front  part  of  the  upper 
jaw.  m.  s.  Upper  molars  or  "  grinders."  m.  i.  Lower  molars  or 
grinders.  Compare  this  and  the  following  figures  with  Fig.  15 
showing  the  more  complete  "  dentition  "  of  the  pig. 

its  skull  is  six  inches  long.  These  and  the  bones  of  a  few 
small  finches  were  all  that  rewarded  her  pains.  The  bones 
of  fossil  goats  (of  living  species)  are  found  in  caves  at 
Gibraltar  and  in  Spain  ;  so  at  first  the  result  seemed  dis- 
appointing. But  on  carefully  clearing  out  the  specimens 


THE   SKULL   AND  TEETH   OF   GOATS       151 

and  examining  them  in  London,  Miss  Bate  found  that  the 
supposed   goat   bones   obtained    by  her   in   Majorca  were 


Upper 

JdW. 

FIG.  22. — Horizontal  view  of  the  teeth  in  the  lower  and  upper  jaw 
of  the  goat.  In  front  of  the  lower  jaw  the  group  of  three  incisors 
(inc.  i.}  and  one  canine  is  seen,  whilst  the  toothless  bony  plate  (/».) 
of  the  upper  jaw,  against  which  they  work,  is  seen  in  the  right-hand 
half  of  the  figure.  The  molars,  "  grinders,"  or  cheek-teeth  are 
numbered  i  to  6  in  each  jaw. 


really  those  of  a  new  and  most  extraordinary  animal,  to 
which  (in  a  paper  published  in  the  '  Geological   Magazine ' 


152 


A  STRANGE   EXTINCT   BEAST 


in   September,  1910)  she  has  given  the  name  "  Myotmgns 
balearicusT 

I  must  ask  the  reader  now  to  look  at  the  figures  here  given 
(Figs.  21  and  22)  of  the  skull  and  the  lower  jaw  of  a  goat. 
The  lower  jaw  might  (except  for  size)  pass  for  that  of  a  sheep, 
ox,  antelope  or  deer.  They  are  all  alike.  There  are  on  each 
side  six  grinding  cheek  teeth  (molars),  and  then  as  we  pass 
to  the  front  we  find  a  long,  toothless  gap  until  we  come  to 
the  middle  line  where  the  two  halves  of  the  jaw  unite. 


FIG.  23.— Side  view  of  the  skull  of  a  typical  "  rodent  "  mammal,  the 
Coypu  rat  (Myocastor  coypus]  from  South  America,  inc.  s.  Upper 
incisor,  inc.  i.  Lower  incisor,  m.  s.,  m.  i.  Upper  and  lower  molars, 
grinders  or  cheek-teeth. 

There  we  see  a  little  semicircular  group  of  eight  chisel-like 
teeth,  which  work  against  the  toothless  pad  of  the  upper 
jaw  opposed  to  them  and  are  tl^e  instruments  by  which 
these  animals,  with  an  upward  jerk  of  the  head,  "  crop  " 
the  grass  and  other  herbage  on  which  they  feed,  to  be  after- 
wards triturated  by  the  grinding  cheek  teeth.  A  vast 
series  of  living  and  of  fossil  animals,  called  the  Ruminants 
—including  the  giraffes,  the  antler-bearing  forms  called 


THE  TEETH   OF   RATS 


153 


deer,  the  cavicorn  or  sheath-horned  bovines,  ovines  and  cap- 
rines,  and  the  large  series  of  antelopes  of  Africa  and  India — 
all  have  precisely  this  form  of  jaw,  this  number  and  shape 
and  grouping  of  the  teeth.       Now  let  me  call  to  mind  the 
lower  jaw  of  a  hare  or  rabbit  or  rat  (Figs.  23   and   24). 


Upper 
Jaw 


FIG.  24.— View  in  the  horizontal  plane  of  the  teeth  of  the  left  half 
of  the  lower  and  the  left  half  of  the  upper  jaw  of  the  Coypu 
rat  to  show  the  single  great  gnawing  incisor  on  each  side,  the  four 
flat  grinding  molars  and  the  wide  gap  between  molars  and  incisors. 
Compare  with  Figs.  22  and^2y. 

There  we  find  on  each  side  the  group  of  grinding  cheek 
teeth,  with  transverse  ridges  on  their  crowns,  and  a  long, 
toothless  gap  before  we  arrive  at  the  front  teeth.  But 
the  front  teeth  are  only  two  in  number,  one  on  each  side, 


154  A   STRANGE   EXTINCT   BEAST 

close  to  each  other,  very  large,  and  each  with  a  tremen- 
dously long,  deeply  set  root.  They  meet  a  similar  pair  of 
teeth  in  the  upper  jaw,  and  give  the  hare,  rabbit,  rats, 
mice,  beavers,  and  porcupines  the  power  of  "  gnawing  " 
tough  substances.  These  animals  are  hence  called  Rodents, 
or  gnawers,  and  the  two  great  front  teeth  are  called  "  rodent- 
teeth."  No  arrangement  of  teeth  could  be  much  more 
unlike  than  are  the  group  of  eight  little  chisel-like  teeth  of 
the  lower  jaw  of  the  Ruminants  and  the  two  enormous 
gnawing  teeth  of  the  Rodents.  Apparently  the  two  rodent 
incisors,  or  front  teeth,  of  the  lower  jaw  of  the  rat  corre- 
spond to  the  two  middle  incisors  of  the  Ruminant's  lower 
jaw  ;  the  other  front  teeth  of  the  Ruminant  have  atrophied, 
disappeared  altogether.  The  rodent  condition  has  been 
developed  from  that  of  an  ancestor  which  had  several  front 
teeth  and  not  two  large  ones  only  ;  but  we  have  not  at 
present  found  the  intermediate  steps. 

The  reader  should  compare  the  teeth  of  the  goat  and 
the  large  rat  here  pictured  with  the  more  typical  and 
complete  series  of  the  pig,  given  in  Fig.  I  5,  p.  140.  The 
pig's  teeth  are  the  same  in  number  as  those  of  the 
ancestral  primitive  typidentate  mammal,  and  their  form  is 
near  to  that  of  the  ancestor's  teeth. 

Now  I  come  to  the  extraordinary  interest  of  Miss  Bate's 
goat-like  or  antelope-like  animal  from  Majorca.  Although 
it  is  shown  by  its  skull  (Fig.  25)  and  other  bones  to  be 
distinctly  one  of  the  sheath-horned  ruminants,  very  like  a 
small  goat  or  antelope,  the  lower  jaw,  of  which  there  are 
several  specimens,  does  not  present  in  front  the  little  group 
of  eight  small  chisel-like  "  cropping  "  teeth,  but,  instead,  two 
enormous  rodent  teeth  placed  side  by  side,  very  deeply 
fixed  in  the  jaw,  and  quite  like  those  of  some  rat-like 
animals  in  shape.  Hence  the  name  given  to  this  little 
marvel  by  Miss  Bate — "Myotragus,"  "the  rat-goat."  This 
strange  little  animal  also  differs  from  goats  and  antelopes 


THE  RAT-TOOTHED  GOAT  155 

in  having  proportionately  much  thicker  and  shorter  "feet" 
(cannon-bones)  than  they  have. 

If  the  remains  of  this  strange  little  creature  had  turned 
up  in  more  ancient  strata — in  Pliocene  or  Miocene — it 
would  not  have  been  quite  so  astonishing.  But  it  would 
be  still  very  remarkable,  since  it  has  all  the  characters  of  a 
goat-like  creature  in  the  shape  of  its  skull,  its  bony  horn- 
cores,  its  limb-bones,  and  its  cheek-teeth  ;  and  yet,  as  it 


FIG.  25. —  Drawing  of  the  skull  of  the  rat-toothed  goat,  Myotragus 
— the  new  extinct  beast  discovered  in  limestone  fissures  in  the  island 
of  Majorca  by  Miss  Bate.  i.  Side  view  of  the  skull  and  lower  jaw. 
2.  Appearance  of  the  two  rat-like  teeth  as  seen  when  the  end  of 
the  lower  jaw  is  viewed  from  above. 

were  monstrously  and  in  a  most  disconcerting  way,  protrudes 
from  its  lower  jaw  two  great  rats'  teeth.  Nothing  like  it 
or  approaching  it  or  suggesting  it,  is  known  among  recent 
or  fossil  Ruminants.  They  all  without  exception  have  a 
lower  jaw  with  the  teeth  of  the  exact  number  and  grouping 
which  you  may  see  in  a  sheep's  lower  jaw.  We  know 
hundreds  of  them,  both  living  and  fossil,  many  from  the 


156  A   STRANGE   EXTINCT   BEAST 

Pleistocene,  others  from  Pliocene  deposits,  and  even  from 
the  still  older  Miocene,  but  all  keep  to  the  one  pattern  of 
lower  jaw  and  lower  jaw  teeth.  It  is  only  in  this  little 
island  of  Majorca,  surrounded  by  very  deep  water  and  not 
known  to  have  nurtured  any  other  animal  so  large  in  size 
either  in  recent  or  geologic  times,  that  we  come  upon  a 
Ruminant  with  horns  like  a  goat's,  but  with  great  rat-like 
front  teeth  in  place  of  the  semicircle  of  eight  little  cropping 
toothlets.  The  wonderful  thing  is  that  the  bones  found  by 
Miss  Bate  are  light  and  well  preserved,  evidently  not  very 
ancient — probably  late  Pleistocene  in  age. 

The  questions  which  arise  are  :  Where  did  the  rat-goat 
come  from  ?  How  did  this  utterly  peculiar  change  in  a 
Ruminant's  teeth  come  about  ?  With  regard  to  the  second 
question,  it  is  a  matter  of  importance  that  although  we 
have  hitherto  not  discovered  any  Ruminants  with  this 
modification  of  the  teeth,  still  less  any  cavicorn  or  sheath- 
horned  Ruminant  so  altered,  yet  it  is  by  no  means  rare 
amongst  herbivorous  mammals  to  find  such  rat-like  teeth 
making  their  appearance,  whilst  the  smaller  side-teeth  of 
the  incisor  group  or  front  teeth  disappear.  The  Australian 
kangafoos  and  wombats  are  a  case  in  point — so  is  the 
lemur-like  aye-aye  of  Madagascar  (an  insect  eater).  So 
is  the  Hyrax  or  "damian"  of  the  Cape,  and  also  the 
very  ancient  Plagiaulax  from  the  prae-chalk  Purbeck  clay. 
But  perhaps  the  best  case  for  comparison  with  the 
Ruminants  is  that  of  the  Rhinoceroses.  There  are  a 
great  many  species  and  even  genera  of  fossil  and  recent 
Rhinoceroses.  An  old  Miocene  kind  (called  Hyracodon) 
has  eight  little  teeth  in  the  front  of  the  lower  jaw.  In 
a  Pliocene  kind  of  rhinoceros  (called  R.  incisivus)  these 
are  reduced  to  two,  the  middle  two,  which  are  of  great 
size  and  project  far  forward — like  those  of  the  rat-goat 
of  Majorca.  Among  living  rhinoceroses  the  Indian 
species  have  these  two  front  teeth,  but  smaller,  whilst  the 


ORIGIN   OF   THE   RAT-TOOTHED   GOAT     157 

square-mouthed  African  rhinoceros  has  none  at  all !  This 
helps  us,  as  a  parallel,  to  understand  "  the  strange  case  " 
of  Myotragus.  But,  of  course,  the  rhinoceroses  are  a 
distinct  line  of  animal  descent — remote  from  Ruminants. 
They  are  (like  horses  and  tapirs)  odd-toed  hoofed-beasts — 
not  even-toed  ones,  as  are  pigs,  camels,  and  Ruminants. 

On  first  considering  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the 
rat-goat  of  Majorca,  some  naturalists  will,  no  doubt,  be 
tempted  to  suggest  that  it  is  a  case  of  a  sudden  "  sport," 
a  "  mutation  "  as  they  now  call  it,  and  not  a  result  of 
gradual  slowly  developed  reduction  of  the  now  lost  teeth 
and  correspondingly  gradual  enlargement  of  the  two 
middle  ones,  taking  many  thousand  generations  to  bring 
about.  The  fact  that  the  rat-goat  is  found  on  an  island 
cut  off  from  competition  with  other  animals  will  favour  this 
view.  On  the  other  hand,  there  is  the  important  and 
really  remarkable  fact  that  familiar  as  man  has  been  for 
ages  with  Ruminants  of  many  kinds — such  as  sheep,  goats, 
cattle,  deer — there  is  absolutely  no  case  on  record  of  an 
"  oddity  "  or  "  monstrosity  "  resembling  the  rat-goat's  con- 
dition occurring  in  the  teeth  of  any  of  the  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  these  animals  killed  and  eaten  by  man,  and 
therefore  closely  examined.  Professor  Bateson,  who  a  few 
years  ago  ransacked  the  museums  of  Europe  for  instances 
of  "  discontinuous  variation,"  or  "  sports,"  and  wrote  a 
valuable  book  on  the  subject,  did  not  discover  any  example 
of  the  kind.  Apart  from  the  view,  which  is  very  generally 
held,  that  such  sudden  "  mutations "  as  "  rat-teeth  in  a 
ruminant  "  are — even  should  they  occur — not  perpetuated, 
we  are  not  really  in  any  way  driven  to  suppose  that  the 
rat-goat  of  Majorca  originated  in  that  island.  '  It  is  true 
that  we  know  nothing  like  it  in  the  Pliocene  and  Miocene 
of  the  Mediterranean  region  which  could  have  been  its 
immediate  ancestor.  But  probably  the  ancestors  of  the 


158  A   STRANGE   EXTINCT  BEAST 

rat-goat  were  slowly  developed  from  a  Miocene  sheath- 
horned  ruminant,  a  primitive  sort  of  antelope  in  some  part 
of  North-west  Africa,  or  in  an  extension  of  it  now  sub- 
merged in  the  Atlantic,  and  stragglers  of  this  curious  and 
now  lost  Ruminant  stock  were  left  in  Majorca  when  in 
Miocene  or  early  Pliocene  times  that  island  became 
detached  from  its  Hispano-African  connection. 


CHAPTER     XI 
VEGETARIANS    AND    THEIR    TEETH 

NO  mistake,  said  Huxley,  is  more  frequently  made  by- 
clever  people  than  that  of  supposing  that  a  cause  or 
an  opinion  is  unsound  because  the  arguments  put  forward 
in  its  favour  by  its  advocates  are  foolish  or  erroneous. 
Some  of  the  arguments  put  forward  in  favour  of  the 
exclusive  use  by  mankind  of  a  vegetable  diet  can  be  shown 
to  be  based  on  misconception  and  error,  and  I  propose 
now  to  mention  one  or  two  of  these.  But  I  wish  to  guard 
against  the  supposition  that  I  am  convinced  in  consequence 
that  animal  substances  form  the  best  possible  diet  for  man, 
or  that  an  exclusively  vegetable  diet  may  not,  if  properly 
selected,  be  advantageous  for  a  large  majority  of  mankind. 
That  question,  as  well  as  the  question  of  the  advantage  of  a 
mixed  diet  of  animal  and  vegetable  substances,  and  the  best 
proportion  and  quantity  of  the  substances  so  mixed,  must  be 
settled,  as  also  the  question  as  to  the  harm  or  good  in  the 
habitual  use  of  small  quantities  of  alcohol,  by  definite  careful 
experiment  by  competent  physiologists,  conducted  on  a  scale 
large  enough  to  give  conclusive  results.  The  cogency  of  the 
arguments  in  favour  of  vegetarianism  which  I  am  about  to 
discuss  is  another  matter. 

In  the  first  place  it  is  very  generally  asserted  by  those 
who  advocate  a  purely  vegetable  diet  that  man's  teeth  are 
of  the  shape  and  pattern  which  we  find  in  fruit-eating  or 
in  root-eating  animals  allied  to  him.  This  is  true.  The 


160        VEGETARIANS  AND  THEIR  TEETH 

warm-blooded  hairy  quadrupeds  which  suckle  their  young 
and  are  called  "  mammals "  (for  which  word  perhaps 
"  beasts  "  is  the  nearest  Anglo-Saxon  equivalent)  show  in 
different  groups  and  orders  a  great  variety  in  their  teeth. 
The  birds  of  to-day  have  no  teeth,  the  reptiles,  amphibians, 
and  fishes  have  usually  simple  conical  or  peg-like  teeth, 
which  are  used  simply  for  holding  and  tearing.  In  some 
cases  the  pointed  pin-like  teeth  are  broadened  out  so  as  to 


FIG.  26. — Side  view  of  the  skull  of  a  clouded  tiger  (Felis  nebulosa] 
to  show  the  teeth,  inc.  3.  The  three  incisors.  can.  s.  Upper 
canine,  corner-tooth,  or  dog-tooth,  can.  i.  Lower  canine,  m.  s. 
The  four  upper  molars  or  cheek-teeth  (called  "grinders  "  in  herbi- 
vorous animals),  m.  i.  The  three  lower  molars  or  cheek  teeth. 


be  button-like,  and  act  as  crushing  organs  for  breaking  up 
shell-fish.  The  mammals  alone  have  a  great  variety  and 
elaboration  of  the  teeth. 

In  shape  and  size,  as  well  as  in  number,  the  teeth  of 
mammals  are  very  clearly  related  to  the  nature  of  their 
food  in  the  first  place,  and  secondly  to  their  use  as  weapons 


TEETH   OF   CARNIVORS 


161 


of  attack  or  of  defence.  When  the  surface  of  the  cheek- 
teeth is  broad,  with  low  and  numerous  tubercles,  the  food 
of  the  animal  is  of  a  rather  soft  substance,  which  yields  to 
a  grinding  action.  Such  substances  are  fruits,  nuts,  roots, 
or  leaves,  which  are  "  triturated"  and  mixed  with  the  saliva 
during  the  process  of  mastication.  Where  the  vegetable 


can.i. 


FIG.  27. — View  in  the  horizontal  plane  of  the  teeth  of  the  lower  and 
upper  jaw  of  the  same  clouded  tiger's  skull,  inc.  i.  Lower  incisors. 
inc.  s.  Upper  incisors,  can.  i.  and  can.  s.  Lower  and  upper  canine. 
m.  The  cheek-teeth — three  only  in  the  lower  jaw,  a  minute  fourth 
molar  present  in  the  upper. 

food  is  coarse  grass  or  tree  twigs,  requiring  long  and 
thorough  grinding,  transverse  ridges  of  enamel  are  present 
on  the  cheek-teeth,  as  in  elephants,  cattle,  deer,  and  rabbits 
(see  Figs,  i  3,  22,  24).  Truly  carnivorous  animals,  which  eat 
the  raw  carcases  of  other  animals,  have  a  different  shape  of 
teeth.  Not  only  do  they  have  large  and  dagger-like 

1 1 


162       VEGETARIANS  AND  THEIR  TEETH 

canines  or  "dog-teeth  "  as  weapons  of  attack,  but  the  cheek- 
teeth (very  few  in  number)  present  a  long,  sharp-edged 
ridge  running  parallel  to  the  length  of  the  jaw,  the  edges 
of  which  in  corresponding  upper  and  lower  teeth  fit  and 
work  together  like  the  blades  of  a  pair  of  scissors.  The 
cats  (including  the  lions,  tigers  and  leopards)  have  this 
arrangement  in  perfection  (see  Figs.  26  and  27).  They 
cut  the  bones  and  muscles  of  their  prey  into  great  lumps 
with  the  scissor-like  cheek-teeth,  and  swallow  great  pieces 
whole  without  mastication.  Insect-eating  mammals  have 
cheek-teeth  with  three  or  four  sharp-pointed  tubercles 
standing  up  on  the  surface.  They  break  the  hard-shelled 
insects  and  swallow  them  rapidly.  The  fish-eating  whales 
have  an  immense  number  of  peg-like  pointed  teeth  only. 
These  serve  as  do  those  of  the  seals — merely  to  catch  and 
grip  the  fish,  which  are  swallowed  whole. 

It  is  quite  clear  that  man's  cheek-teeth  do  not  enable 
him  to  cut  lumps  of  meat  and  bone  from  raw  carcases  and 
swallow  them  whole,  nor  to  grip  live  fish  and  swallow  them 
straight  off  (PI.  VII).  They  are  broad,  square-surfaced 
teeth,  with  four  or  fewer  low  rounded  tubercles  fitted  to 
crush  soft  food,  as  are  those  of  monkeys  (see  Pis.  VIII 
and  IX,  and  their  description).  And  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  man  fed  originally,  like  monkeys,  on  easily 
crushed  fruits,  nuts,  and  roots.  He  could  not  eat  like  a  cat. 

A  fundamental  mistake  has  arisen  amongst  some  of  the 
advocates  of  vegetarianism  by  the  use  of  the  words  "  carni- 
vorous "  and  "  flesh-eating "  in  an  ill-defined  way.  Man 
has  never  eaten  lumps  of  raw  meat  and  bone,  and  no  one 
proposes  that  he  should  do  so  to-day.  Man  did  not  take 
to  meat-eating  until  he  had  acquired  the  use  of  fire,  and 
had  learnt  to  cook  the  meat  before  he  ate  it.  He  thus 
separated  the  bone  and  intractable  sinew  from  the  flesh, 
which  he  rendered  friable  and  divisible  by  thorough  grilling, 
roasting,  or  baking.  To  eat  meat  thus  altered,  both  chemi- 


MIXED  DIETS  163 

cally  and  in  texture,  is  a  very  different  thing  from  eating 
the  raw  carcases  of  large  animals.  Man's  teeth  are 
thoroughly  fitted  for  the  trituration  of  cooked  meat,  which 
is,  indeed,  as  well  suited  to  their  mechanical  action  as  are 
fruits,  nuts,  and  roots.  Hence  we  see  that  the  objection 
to  a  meat  diet  based  on  the  structure  of  man's  teeth  does 
not  apply  to  the  use  of  cooked  meat  as  diet.  The  use 
by  man  of  uncooked  meat  is  not  proposed  or  defended. 

Yet,  further,  it  is  well  to  take  notice  of  the  fact  that  there 
are  many  vegetarian  wild  animals  which  do  not  hesitate  to 
cat  certain  soft  animals  or  animal  products  when  they  get 
the  chance.  Thus,  both  monkeys  and  primitive  men  will 
eat  grubs  and  small  soft  animals,  and  also  the  eggs  of 
birds.  Whilst  the  cat  tribe,  in  regard  to  the  chemical 
action  of  their  digestive  juices,  are  so  specialised  for  eating 
raw  meat  that  it  is  practically  impossible  for  them  to  take 
vegetable  matter  as  even  a  small  portion  of  their  diet,  and 
whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  the  grass-eating  cattle,  sheep, 
goats,  antelopes,  deer  and  giraffes  are-  similarly  disqualified 
from  any  form  of  meat-diet,  most  other  land-mammals  can 
be  induced,  without  harm  to  themselves,  to  take  a  mixed 
diet,  even  in  those  cases  where  they  do  not  naturally  seek  it. 
Pigs,  on  the  one  hand,  and  bears,  on  the  other,  tend  natur- 
ally to  a  mixed  diet.  Many  birds,  under  conditions  adverse 
to  the  finding  of  their  usual  food,  will  change  from  vegetable 
to  animal  diet,  or  vice-versa.  Sea-gulls  normally  are  fish- 
eaters,  but  some  will  eat  biscuit  and  grain  when  fish  cannot 
be  had.  Pigeons  have  been  fed  successfully  on  a  meat 
diet  ;  so,  too,  some  parrots,  and  also  the  familiar  barn-door 
fowl.  Many  of  our  smaller  birds  eat  both  insects  and 
grain,  according  to  opportunity.  Hence  it  appears  impos- 
sible to  base  any  argument  against  the  use  of  cooked  meat 
as  part  of  man's  diet  upon  the  structure  of  his  teeth,  or 
upon  any  far-reaching  law  of  Nature  which  decrees  that 
every  animal  is  absolutely  either  fitted  (internally  and 


164       VEGETARIANS  AND  THEIR  TEETH 

chemically,  as  well  as  in  the  matter  of  teeth)  for  a  diet 
consisting  exclusively  of  vegetable  substances,  or  else  is 
immutably  assigned  to  one  consisting  exclusively  of  animal 
substances.  There  is  no  a  priori  assumption  possible 
against  the  use  as  food  by  man  of  nutritious  matter 
derived  from  animal  bodies  properly  prepared. 

So  far  as  a  priori  argument  has  any  value  in  such  a 
matter,  it  suggests  that  the  most  perfect  food  for  any 
animal — that  which  supplies  exactly  the  constituents 
needed  by  the  animal  in  exactly  right  quantity  and 
smallest  bulk — is  the  flesh  and  blood  of  another  animal  of 
its  own  species.  This  is  a  startling  theoretical  justification 
— from  the  purely  dietetic  point  of  view — of  cannibalism. 
It  is,  however,  of  no  conclusive  value  ;  the  only  method 
which  can  give  us  conclusions  of  any  real  value  in  this  and 
similarly  complex  matters  is  prolonged,  full,  well-devised, 
well-recorded  experiment.  At  the  same  time,  we  may 
just  note  that  the  favourite  food  of  a  scorpion  is  the  juice 
of  the  body  of  another  scorpion,  and  that  the  same 
preference  for  cannibalism  exists  in  spiders,  many  insects, 
fishes,  and  even  higher  animals. 

Another  line  of  argument  by  which  some  advocates  of 
vegetarianism  appeal  to  the  popular  judgment  is  by 
representing  flesh-food  derived  from  animals  as  something 
dirty,  foul,  and  revolting,  full  of  microbic  germs,  whilst 
vegetable  products  are  extolled  as  being  clean  and  sweat — 
free  from  odour  and  putrescence  and  from  the  scare- 
monger's microbes.  This,  I  perhaps  need  hardly  say,  is  a 
gigantic  illusion  and  misrepresentation.  I  came  across  it 
the  other  day  in  a  very  unreasonable  pamphlet  on  food  by 
the  American  writer,  Mr.  Upton  Sinclair.  Putrefactive 
microbes  attack  vegetable  foods  and  produce  revolting 
smells  and  poisons  in  them,  just  as  they  do  in  foods  of 
animal  origin.  It  is  true  that  on  the  whole  more  varieties 
of  vegetable  food  can  be  kept  dry  and  ready  for  use  by 


DISEASE  GERMS   IN  FOOD  165 

softening  with  hot  water  than  is  the  case  with  foods 
prepared  from  animals.  This  is  only  a  question  of  not 
keeping  food  too  long  or  in  conditions  tending  to  the  access 
of  putrefactive  bacteria.  It  is,  on  the  whole,  more  usual 
and  necessary,  in  order  to  render  it  palatable,  to  apply 
heat  to  flesh,  fish,  and  fowl  than  to  fruits.  And  it  is 
by  heat — heat  of  the  temperature  of  boiling  water — 
applied  for  ten  minutes  or  more,  that  poison-producing  and 
infective  bacteria  are  killed  and  rendered  harmless.  More 
people  have  become  infected  by  deadly  parasites  and  have 
died  from  cholera  and  similar  diseases,  through  having 
taken  the  germs  of  those  diseases  into  their  stomachs  with 
raw  and  over-ripe  fruit  or  uncooked  vegetables  and  the 
manured  products  of  the  kitchen  garden,  than  have  suffered 
from  the  presence  of  disease-germs  or  putrefactive  bacteria 
in  well-cooked  meat.  Here,  in  fact,  "  cooking  "  makes  all 
the  difference,  just  as  it  does  in  the  matter  we  were 
discussing  above  of  the  fitness  of  flesh  and  bone  for 
trituration  by  man's  teeth. 

Once  we  remember  that  man  is  not  fitted  for  the  "  raw 
meat "  diet  of  the  carnivora,  but  is  fitted  for  the  "  cooked 
meat  "  diet  which  he  has  himself  discovered — alone  of  all 
animals — we  shall  get  rid  of  a  misleading  prejudice  in 
the  consideration  of  the  question  as  to  whether  civilised 
men  should  or  should  not  make  cooked  meat  a  portion 
of  their  diet,  with  the  purpose  of  maintaining  themselves 
in  as  healthy  and  vigorous  a  state  as  possible.  Do  not 
let  us  forget  that  ancient  Palaeolithic  cave-men  certainly 
made  use  of  fire  to  cook  their  meals  of  animal  flesh,  and 
that  probably  this  use  of  fire  dates  back  to  a  still  earlier 
period  when,  in  consequence  of  this  application  of  the  red, 
running  tongues  of  flame,  which  he  had  learned  to  produce, 
primitive  man  was  able  to  leave  the  warmer  climates  of 
the  earth  and  their  abundant  fruits,  and  to  establish  him- 
self in  temperate  and  even  sub-Arctic  regions. 


166        VEGETARIANS  AND  THEIR  TEETH 

Experiments  on  a  large  and  decisive  scale  in  regard  to 
the  value  of  the  different  foods  taken  by  man  and  the 
question  of  the  desirability  of  cooked  meat  as  part  of  his 
diet  have  never  been  carried  out,  nor  has  the  use  of  alcohol 
been  studied  by  direct  experimental  method  on  a  large 
scale.  Inasmuch  as  the  feeding  of  our  Army  and  Navy, 
of  prisoners,  lunatics,  and  paupers,  is  the  business  of  the 
State,  it  is  obviously  the  duty  of  the  Government  to  inves- 
tigate this  matter  and  arrive  at  a  decision.  It  can  be  done 
by  the  Government,  and  only  by  the  Government.  The 
Army  Medical  Department  is  fully  capable,  and,  I  am  told, 
desirous,  of  undertaking  this  investigation.  Five  hundred 
soldiers  in  barracks  would  find  it  no  hardship,  but  an 
agreeable  duty  (if  rewarded  in  a  suitable  way),  to  submit 
to  various  diets,  and  to  comparative  tests  of  the  value  of 
such  diets.  There  would  be  no  difficulty  in  arranging  the 
experimental  investigation.  Fifty  years  ago  similar  work 
(but  not  precisely  in  regard  to  the  questions  now  raised) 
was  done  by  the  Army  Medical  Department,  under  Parkes, 
with  most  valuable  and  widely  recognised  results. 


PLATE  VII. — The  series  of  teeth  in  the  upper  (i)  and  lower  jaw  (2)  of  a 
modern  European  (natural  size).  The  teeth  are  placed  closely  side 
by  side  without  a  gap — an  arrangement  which  does  not  occur  in  the  apes 
nor  in  any  other  living  mammal,  although  it  is  found  in  some  extinct 
herbivores — the  Anoplotherium  and  the  Arsinoitherium.  The  shape  of 
the  arch  formed  by  the  row  of  teeth  should  be  compared  with  that 
shown  by  the  same  arch  in  the  Gibbon  (PL  VIII).  The  crowns  of  the  teeth 
are  very  carefully  drawn  in  this  figure,  which  is  from  a  plate  published 
by  Professor  Selenka. 

It  must  be  noted  that  the  number  of  tubercles  on  the  true  molars 
may  be  in  exceptional  cases  one  more  or  one  less  than  that  given 
in  this  drawing  which  gives  the  most  usual  number.  The  word 
"molar"  is  often  used  to  include  the  five  cheek  teeth  on  each  side 
of  each  jaw,  but  more  strictly  the  anterior  bicuspid  teeth  are  called 
"  pre-molars,"  and  the  three  larger  teeth  behind  them,  which  have  no 
predecessors  or  representatives  in  the  first  or  milk  dentition,  are  called 
true  molars  or  simply  "  molars  " — a  rule  we  have  followed  here. 


PLATE  VII. 


m 


Teeth  of  the  upper  jaw  of  man. 


inc.2 


mc.i. 


Teeth  of  the  lower  iaw  of  man 


PLATE  VIII. 


m.3. 


TT1.2, 


2. 


Teeth  of  the  upper  and  of  the  lower  jaw  of  the  gibbc 


EXPLANATION  OF  PLATES  VII  AND  VIII       167 

In  both  upper  and  lower  jaw  we  see  the  four  incisors  in  the  middle 
(Inc.  i,  Inc.  2)  ;  on  each  side  of  them  is  the  conical  crown  of  a  canine 
— a  tooth  which  is  greatly  enlarged  in  the  ape  (see  PI.  VIII),  but 
is  no  larger  proportionately  than  it  is  here  even  in  the  most  ancient 
known  human  jaw,  that  from  the  Pleistocene  of  Heidelberg  (see 
'Science  from  an  Easy  Chair/  Methuen,  1910,  p.  405).  The  two 
small  bicuspid  "  premolars  "  and  the  three  large  molars  follow  these 
on  each  side  in  each  jaw.  The  crown  of  the  most  anterior  (or 
"  first  " )  molar  of  the  upper  jaw  has  four  cusps,  tubercles,  or  cones  on 
it.  It  is  "  quadri-tuberculate."  The  second  and  the  third  molars  of 
the  upper  jaw  have  three  such  prominent  tubercles  (excluding  a  row  of 
small  tubercles  on  the  hinder  margin  of  the  second) ;  they  are,  in  fact, 
tri-tuberculate ;  whilst  the  two  hindermost  molars  of  the  lower  jaw 
have  four  tubercles  and  are  called  quadri-tuberculate.  The  first  molar 
(M1)  of  the  lower  jaw  has  in  this  specimen  five  tubercles.  In  60  per 
cent,  of  European  lower  jaws  this  is  the  case.  But  in  40  per  cent,  this 
tooth  is  quadri-tuberculate  (see  PI.  IX).  In  Polynesians,  Chinese, 
Melanesians  and  negroes  five  tubercles  are  found  on  this  tooth  in  90 
per  cent,  of  the  jaws  examined.  The  apes  are  characterised  by  five 
tubercles  on  this  tooth,  and  they  are  found  also  on  the  first  lower  molars 
of  prehistoric  men.  Four  tubercles  only  on  this  tooth  is  a  departure 
from  the  ape's  condition  and  is  found  more  frequently  in  Europeans. 

It  is  obvious  that  these  big  molar  teeth,  as  well  as  the  two  smaller 
ones  in  front  of  them  on  each  side  of  each  jaw,  are  adapted  for  breaking 
up  rather  soft,  pulpy  food,  and  not  for  cutting  lumps  of  bone  or  raw 
flesh,  as  are  the  molars  of  the  clouded  tiger  (identical  with  those  of  all 
species  of  the  genus  Felis),  shown  in  Figs.  26  and  27,  pp.  160,  161, 
nor  for  rubbing  grain,  grass  or  herbage  to  a  paste,  as  are  those  of 
the  goat  (Fig.  22),  those  of  the  coypu  rat  (Fig.  24),  and  those  of  the 
elephants  and  mastodons  (Fig.  13). 


PLATE  VIII. — Drawings  of  (i)  the  upper  and  (2)  the  lower  series  of  teeth  of 
the  Gibbon  (Hylobates  concolor),one  of  the  anthropoid  or  most  man-like 
apes  (enlarged  by  one  third).  If  these  drawings  are  compared  with 
those  in  PI.  VII,  showing  man's  teeth,  the  most  striking  difference  seen 
is  that  the  "arch  "  or  series  of  teeth  is  here  elongated  and  squared,  not 
rounded  in  front,  whilst  there  is  plenty  of  room  in  both  jaws  for  the  last 
or  wisdom  tooth,  which  is  not  the  case  in  modern  races  of  men,  though 
in  the  ancient  Neander  man's  jaw  and  in  that  from  Heidelberg  there 
is  ample  space  for  the  last  molar  as  in  the  apes.  The  next  most 
important  difference  is  that  in  the  gibbon  the  four  canine  teeth  are 
very  large  and  tusk-like,  and  must  certainly  be  of  value  as  weapons 
of  attack — which  man's  are  not.  Connected  with  the  large  size  of 


168        VEGETARIANS  AND   THEIR  TEETH 

the  canines  is  the  presence  of  a  gap  (or  "diastema"  as  it  is  called) 
between  the  four  front  teeth  or  incisors  of  the  upper  jaw  and  the  upper 
canine — which  allows  the  lower  canine  to  fit  in  front  of  the  upper  canine 
when  the  jaw  is  closed.  The  number  of  the  tubercles  or  cones  on  the 
molars  (the  two  smaller  pre-molars  and  the  three  hinder  large  molars) 
can  be  compared  in  detail  in  these  beautiful  drawings  from  Professor 
Selenka's  work,  which  are  the  most  careful  and  perfect  which  have 
ever  been  published.  The  agreement  of  these  teeth  in  man  and  the 
gibbon  is  very  close  :  but  there  are  differences.  The  first,  or  most 
anterior  premolar  of  the  lower  jaw  has  one  predominant  cusp  or  cone  ; 
the  second,  like  both  in  the  upper  jaw,  is  "bicuspid,"  or  bi-tuberculate, 
as  in  man.  The  three  big  molars  of  the  upper  jaw  are  closely  similar  to 
those  of  man,  with  some  small  differences,  the  second  being  quadri- 
tuberculate,  whilst  in  man  it  is  as  often  tri-tuberculate  (as  it  is  in  PI.  VII) 
as  it  is  quadri-tuberculate.  But  the  two  anterior  big  molars  of  the 
lower  jaw  are  seen  to  have  each  five  well-marked  cones,  cusps  or 
tubercles;  they  are  quinqui-tuberculate,  whilst  in  man  the  first  lower 
molar  is  often  quadri-tuberculate  and  the  second  even  more  frequently  so. 
The  last  lower  molar  (wisdom  tooth)  of  the  gibbon  is  like  that  of 
man,  quadri-tuberculate. 

The  details  of  the  tubercles  on  these  molar  teeth  distinctly  justify 
the  conclusion  that  they  are  adapted  in  the  two  animals  compared- 
— namely,  man  and  the  gibbon— to  food  of  the  same  mechanical  quality, 
and  this  undoubtedly  is  fruit  and  nuts.  Nevertheless  such  a  form  of 
tooth  is  equally  well  adapted  to  the  texture  of  cooked  meat,  which  has 
served  many  races  of  man  for  probably  hundreds  of  thousands  of  years 
as  food. 


PLATE  IX. 


left 


left 


left 


Eg.l.  Kg.  2 

Orangoutan  (five  tubercles) 


Fig.3  Pig.4 

Man  (five  tubercles) 


Hg.5. 

Man  (fburtuberd&s) 


right 


right 


FIRST  LOWER  MOLAR 


EXPLANATION  OF   PLATE  IX  169 


PLATE  IX. — The  figures  in  this  plate  are  enlarged  drawings  of  the  first 
lower  molar  (the  first  or  most  anterior  of  the  three  big  molars  as  dis- 
tinct from  the  bicuspid  pre-molars)  intended  especially  to  show : 
(i)  That  the  great  East  Indian  ape,  the  orang-outan,  has  five  tubercles 
or  cones  on  this  tooth,  of  which  three  (numbered  I,  2,  3)  are  on  the 
outer  side  (away  from  the  tongue),  as  is  seen  also  in  the  gibbon  (PI. 
VIII) ;  further,  that  though  the  lower  races  of  man  usually  show  this 
monkey-like  character  (figs.  3  and  4)  (seen  also  in  the  lower  jaw  drawn 
in  Plate  VIII),  yet  that  frequently  in  Europeans  (in  as  many  cases  as 
40  out  of  100  jaws  examined)  only  four  tubercles  are  found  on  this  tooth, 
as  shown- in  figs.  5  and  6.  It  seems  that  as  compared  with  primitive 
man  and  the  "  lower"  existing  races  of  man,  Europeans  are  tending  to 
a  reduction  in  the  number  of  tubercles  on  the  molar  teeth  as  well  as  to 
the  "  crowding  out ''  or  reduction  in  size  and  atrophy  of  the  last  molar 
or  wisdom-tooth.  As  compared  with  the  cave-man  of  the  Neander 
race  these  differences  in  the  teeth  and  in  the  shape  and  size  of  the  jaw 
—  as  well  as  more  important  differences  in  the  bony  skeleton  (dis- 
covered by  Prof.  Marcelin  Boule,  of  Paris) — are  sufficient  to  separate  the 
modern  European  and  the  Neander  cave-man  as  distinct  species  of  the 
genus  Homo.  The  teeth  in  this  plate  are  magnified  to  2\  times  the  linear 
dimensions  of  the  actual  specimens.  Figs  i  and  2  show  the  curious 
"  wrinkling  "  of  the  enamel  surface  of  the  tooth  in  the  orang-outan, 
which  is  shown  by  the  other  molars  also  in  that  ape.  The  figures  are 
copied  from  Selenka. 


CHAPTER  XII 
FOOD  AND  COOKERY 

ANIMALS,    taking    one    kind   with   another,   nourish 
themselves  on  an  immense  variety  of  food.     The 
flesh  and  the  blood  of  other  animals  of  all  kinds,  warm  or 
cold,    the    leaves,    twigs,    fruits,  juices   of  plants,   putrid 
carcases,  hair,  feathers,  skin,  bran,  sawdust,  the  vegetable 
mould  or  "  humus  "  of  the  earth's  surface,  the  sand  of  the 
sea,  with  its  minute  particles    of  organic  detritus,  all  serve 
as  food  to  different   kinds   of  animals.      Some   are   very 
little  fettered  in  their  tastes,  and  are  called  "  omnivorous," 
others  are  bound  in  the  strictest  way  to  a  diet  consisting 
of  the  leaves  of  some  one  species  of  plant  or  the  juices  of 
one   species  of  animal.      Some  of  the  latter  class,  under 
stress  or  privation,  can  accommodate  themselves  to  a  new 
food    very  different   in   character   and    origin    from    that 
which   is  habitual  to  them  ;   others  have  no  elasticity  in 
this  respect,  and   must  have  their   exact   habitual    food- 
plant  or  food-animal,  unless  they  are  to  die  of  starvation. 
Man  exhibits  his  great  powers   of  accommodation   to 
changed  circumstances  in   respect  of  food  as  well  as  in 
other  matters.      If  we  are  to  suppose,  as  is  probable,  that 
our  original  ape-like  ancestors  fed  exclusively  upon  fruits 
and  an  occasional  egg  or  juicy  grub,  how  vast  are   the 
changes  in  diet  to   which   man   has   habituated    himself! 
Man  is  sometimes  said  to  be  omnivorous,  but  this  is  not 
a  sufficient  description  of  the  state  of  things  which  has 


SPECIAL   DIET  OF  VARIOUS  RAGES        171 

grown  up  as  he  has  spread  over  the  earth's  surface. 
Every  race — and  even  many  a  small  group  of  men — has 
its  accustomed  diet,  to  depart  from  which  is  a  pain  and  a 
difficulty,  even  though  new  kinds  of  food  may  be  gradually 
accepted  and  even  become  popular.  Man  has  in  this,  as 
in  so  many  other  things,  a  large  range  of  possible  accom- 
modation, but  he  has  at  the  same  time  habits  the 
continuance  of  which  are  necessary  for  the  healthy  working 
of  the  nervous  system.  The  psychical  element  in  the 
matter  of  food- habit  is  important  in  all  higher  animals, 
but  most  of  all  in  man.  The  digestive  organs  are  con- 
trolled by  the  nervous  system,  and  the  brain  acts  upon  the 
latter  in  such  a  way  as  to  favour  or  to  restrain  the  "  appe- 
tite "  and  the  secretion  of  the  elaborate  digestive  juices,  so 
that  fear,  surprise,  disgust,  and  :t  nausea "  (that  strange 
product  of  mental  and  physical  reactions)  may  destroy 
appetite  and  inhibit  the  digestive  process.  There  are  vast 
populations  of  men  who  live  on  rice,  or  beans,  or  meal, 
and  never  eat  animal  food,  not  even  milk  (after  babyhood), 
nor  cheese,  and  would  be,  at  a  first  attempt  to  eat  it,  "  put 
off"  and  disgusted  by  a  mutton  chop.  There  are  others 
who  subsist  almost  entirely  on  fish,  others  who  live  on 
dried  beef,  others  who  live  on  the  fat  of  whales  and  seals, 
and  would  be  for  a  generation  or  two  injured,  half  starved, 
and  some  of  them  even  killed,  by  a  change  of  diet.  Again, 
there  are  others  who  consider  that  they  must  have  and 
would  be  "  ill  "  unless  they  had  the  cooked  flesh  of  an  ox 
or  sheep  as  part  of  their  daily  food.  Let  us  examine  this 
latter  group  a  little  more  fully — a  group  to  which  the 
nations  of  Europe  belong,  with  the  exception  of  the  Italians, 
who  are  essentially  a  meal-,  fruit-,  and  cheese-eating 
people. 

Apparently  at  a  very  early  time,  even  before  the  last 
glacial  period,  man  had  learnt  the  use  of  fire,  and  roasted 
or  grilled  the  carcases  of  other  animals  which  he  killed 


172  FOOD  AND  COOKERY 

in  the  chase,  in  order  to  consume  them  as  food.  We  have 
no  reason  to  suppose  that  man  ever  made  use  of  the  raw 
flesh  of  higher  animals  as  his  habitual  diet.  His  teeth 
are  not,  and  never  were,  from  his  earliest  ape-like  days, 
adapted  to  true  carnivorous  diet.  Cooked  meat  is  not 
the  food  of  a  carnivor,  but  is  an  adaptation  of  the  flesh  of 
animals  to  the  requirements  of  a  frugivorous  animal. 
Probably  the  use  of  grain  and  cultivated  vegetable  food  is 
a  later  step  in  human  progress  than  the  roasting  of  meat. 
The  Neander-men,  and  even  the  later  Reindeer-men 
(Cromagnards),  had  no  cultivated  fields,  but  lived  on 
roasted  meat  (of  beasts,  birds,  and  fish)  and  wild  fruits. 
We  know  how  thoroughly  the  most  ancient  Greeks 
enjoyed  the  long  slices  of  roasted  meat  cut  from  the  chine, 
as  told  in  the  Homeric  poems,  and  everywhere  in 
Europe  after  the  neolithic  or  polished-stone  period,  meat 
was  a  main  article  of  diet,  in  conjuction  with  the  vegetable 
products  of  agriculture.  In  this  country,  after  the  Norman 
conquest,  meat-eating  was  greatly  favoured  by  the  impor- 
tant industry  which  grew  up  in  hides.  The  land  was  well 
suited  for  the  pasturage  of  cattle,  and  owing  to  the  small- 
ness  of  the  population  and  the  abundance  of  cattle 
slaughtered  for  their  hides,  meat  was  almost  to  be  had  for 
the  asking.  It  was  thus  that  Englishmen  became  great 
meat-eaters  and  that  "the  roast  beef  of  Old  England"  was 
established.  Later  the  same  superfluity  of  meat — in  this 
case,  "  mutton  " — recurred  and  became  general  when  wool- 
growing  and  the  manufacture  of  woollen  goods  developed 
into  important  industries.  Relatively  to  the  population 
there  was  more  "  meat"  of  oxen  and  sheep  in  this  country 
than  on  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  this  disproportion 
has  been  maintained. 

But  the  increase  of  population  has  led  to  a  considerable 
change  in  the  diet  of  a  very  large  proportion — the  poorer 
part — of  the  community.  Whilst  the  families  of  the  better- 


FOOD  AND   HABIT  173 

paid  working  class  and  all  the  middle  and  upper  class 
continue  to  eat  meat,  the  agricultural  labourer  and  the 
poorer  workmen  in  towns  live  chiefly  on  flour,  sugar,  bacon, 
and  cheese.  Probably  they  have  become  habituated  to 
this  diet,  and,  provided  that  the  quantity  is  sufficient,  it 
cannot  be  maintained  that  the  diet,  in  which  meat  is 
nearly  or  altogether  absent,  is  unhealthy.  Many  vigorous 
and  muscularly  well-developed  populations  in  other  lands 
thrive  on  exclusively  vegetable  food. 

A  curious  and  not  altogether  comforting  reflection  is 
that  if  the  inexpensive  and  simple  food  of  the  agricultural 
labourer  is  sufficient,  the  section  of  the  community  which 
spends  from  five  to  ten  shillings  per  head  a  day  on  a  mixed 
diet  of  meat,  fish,  eggs,  and  vegetables  is  guilty  of  waste 
and  excess.  Here,  however,  the  remarkable,  and,  in  fact, 
exceptional  domination  of  "  habit  "  (in  the  case  of  man), 
in  regard  to  both  the  actual  articles  of  food  and  the  mode 
of  its  preparation,  has  to  be  recognised.  Such  and  such 
inexpensive  and  unskilfully  prepared  food  may  contain 
more  than  the  necessary  amount  of  proteids  (that  is,  matters 
like  flesh,  the  casein  of  cheese,  and  vegetables,  and  the 
albumen  of  eggs),  of  hydro-carbons  (i.  e.  fats),  of  carbo- 
hydrates (i.  e.,  starch  and  sugar),  yet  if  you  were  suddenly 
to  compel  a  man  accustomed  to  well-cooked  meat  to  live 
on  such  food  he  would  be  unable  to  assimilate  it,  his 
digestive  organs  would  refuse  to  work,  and  he  would 
become,  if  not  seriously  ill,  yet  so  ill-nourished  and  sickly 
that  he  would  be  unfit  for  his  work  and  readily  fall  a 
victim  to  disease.  It  is,  in  fact,  impossible  to  lay  down 
any  scheme  of  diet  based  on  the  mere  provision  of  the 
necessary  quantities  of  food  materials  whilst  ignoring  the 
formed  habits  of  the  individual  and  the  relation  of  the 
psychical  conditions  which  we  call  "  taste,"  "  appetite," 
"fancy,"  "disgust,"  to  the  actual  processes  of  digestion  and 
the  consequent  efficiency  of  the  proposed  diet. 


174  FOOD  AND  COOKERY 

No  doubt  gradually,  after  a  few  generations,  a  whole 
people  may  become  healthily  habituated  to  a  diet  which 
would  have  been  positively  injurious  to  their  forebears, 
and  no  doubt  individuals  may  be  led  by  fortitude  or  by 
necessity  in  time  (perhaps  weeks,  perhaps  years)  to 
acquire  a  tolerance,  or  even  enjoyment,  of  food  at  first 
repulsive,  and  therefore  injurious.  The  difficulty  in  the 
matter  is  not  that  of  correctly  determining  what  is 
physiologically  sufficient  for  the  human  animal,  nor  even 
what  would  be  a  healthy  diet  for  a  community  when  once, 
after  a  transition  period  of  distress  and  injury,  habituated 
or  "  attuned  "  to  that  diet.  The  difficulty  is  to  arrive  at 
a  conclusion  as  to  what  is  really  the  suitable  and  reason- 
able diet  for  an  individual — yourself  or  one  like  yourself 
— having  regard  to  the  lifelong  habits  of  the  individual, 
and  the  consequent  nervous  reactions  established  in  him 
or  her  in  relation  to  the  taste,  quality,  and  mode  of  pre- 
sentation of  food.  Robust  people,  so  long  as  they  get 
what  suits  their  own  uncultivated  taste,  are  apt  to  make 
very  light  of  what  they  call  "  fancies  "  about  food,  and 
to  overlook  their  real  importance. 

Feeding  on  the  part  of  civilised  man  is  not  the  simple 
procedure  which  it  is  with  animals,  although  many  animals 
are  particular  as  to  their  food  and  what  is  called  "  dainty." 
The  necessity  for  civilised  man  of  cheerful  company  at  his 
meal,  and  for  the  absence  of  mental  anxiety,  is  universally 
recognised,  as  well  as  the  importance  of  an  inviting  appeal 
to  the  appetite  through  the  sense  of  smell  and  of  sight, 
whilst  the  injurious  effect  of  the  reverse  conditions,  which 
may  lead  to  nausea,  and  even  vomiting,  is  admitted. 
Even  the  ceremonial  features  of  the  dinner  table,  the 
change  of  clothes  before  sitting  down  to  the  repast,  the 
leisurely  yet  precise  succession  of  approved  and  expected 
dishes,  accompanied  by  pleasant  talk  and  light-hearted 
companionship,  are  shown  by  strict  scientific  examination 


NERVOUS  CONTROL   OF   DIGESTION      175 

to  be  important  aids  to  the  healthy  digestion  of  food, 
which  need  not  be  large  in  quantity,  although  it  should  be 
wisely  presented. 

These  psychical  conditions  of  healthy  feeding  are  not 
trivial  matters,  as  we  are  too  apt  to  suppose.     They  are 
part,    and    a    very     important    part,    of    the    physiology 
of  nutrition,  and  so  deserving  of  scientific   inquiry  and  of 
practical  attention.     They  have  been  made  the  subject  of 
careful  experiment  by  a  Russian  physiologist,  Pavloff.      At 
a  recent  meeting  of  the  British  Association  this   matter 
was  brought  under  discussion  in  the  Physiological  Section, 
and  it  was  pointed  out  by  the  author  of  a  very  interesting 
communication  that  the  whole  question  as  to  what  is  and 
what  is  not  a  sound  and  healthy  diet  is  too  often  dealt 
with  by  writers  who  ignore  the  psychical  (or  shall  we  say 
the    cerebral  ?)    factor.       Cases   were  cited  of  dangerous 
arrest  of  the  power  of  digesting,  or  even  of  swallowing, 
food  which  were  cured  by  giving  the  patient  some  appa- 
rently inappropriate  and  probably  harmful  article  of  food 
for  which  he  or  she  had  a  fancy,  such  as  a  grilled  salmon- 
steak,  the  last  thing  which  would  be  spontaneously  recom- 
mended by  a  medical  man  to   a  patient  who  had   been 
suffering   for   weeks    from    inability  to  take    food.      The 
willingness  is  all — the  assent,  the  approval  of  the  cerebral 
centres,    and    the     consequent    unlocking  of   the   whole 
arrested  mechanism  of  digestive  secretions  and  movements. 
Such  a  case    is  only    an    extreme  instance.      But    it    is 
undoubtedly  the  fact  that  just  as  the  sight  of  so  small  a 
thing  as  a  drop  of  blood,  or  even  the  word  "  blood,"  will 
on  occasion  cause  a  strong,  healthy  man  to  faint,  so  quite 
a  small  excess  or  defect  in  the  accustomed  quality  of  food 
will  at  times  arrest  the  appetite  and  digestive  processes  of  a 
healthy  man.     To  many  a  healthy  individual  one  among 
many  flavours  and  savours  associated  with  agreeable  food 
is  necessary  in  order  that  healthy   appetite   and   proper 


176  FOOD  AND  COOKERY 

digestion  may  be  set  going,  and  the  absence  of  the  right 
flavour  and  the  presence  of  what  is,  in  his  experience,  a 
wrong  and  disgusting  smell  or  taste  in  the  food  set  before 
him,  will  produce  nausea  and  complete  arrest  of  the  diges- 
tive processes. 

It  is  apparently  owing  to  this  cause  that  "  tinned 
meats  "  have  proved  to  be  of  little  value  as  rations  for  an 
army  in  campaign,  for  exploring  expeditions,  and  for 
remote  mining  camps.  It  is  not  that  such  tinned  meats 
do  not  contain  the  necessary  constituents  of  food,  or  that 
they  contain  poisonous  substances,  but  that  they  produce 
a  sense  of  disgust,  and  arrest  the  digestive  processes. 
Soldiers,  travellers,  and  miners  have  assured  me  that  they 
prefer  a  dry  biscuit  and  dried,  or  salted,  or  sugared  meat, 
to  the  supposed  more  "  tasty  "  tinned  meats,  and  that  such 
is  the  general  experience  of  their  comrades. 

Of  similar  nature  is  another  very  serious  trouble,  in 
regard  to  the  healthy  feeding  of  the  modern  Englishman, 
which  has  come  upon  us  in  consequence  of  the  quite 
modern  system  of  huge  restaurants,  whether  in  London 
or  in  the  very  large  hotels,  which  are  now  run  in  Swiss, 
Italian  and  English  summer  resorts.  Hundreds  of 
visitors  are  "  catered  for  "  daily.  There  is  no  attempt 
at  anything  which  deserves  the  name  of  cookery.  Great 
monopolists  control  the  supplies,  and  contract  to  deliver 
to  these  hotels,  even  in  out-of-the-way  localities,  so 
much  ice-stored,  "  mousey  "  fish,  "  mousey  "  quails,  stringy 
meat,  impossible  vegetables,  and  fruits,  gathered  from 
the  cheapest  markets  of  Europe  and  of  a  quality  just 
not  bad  enough  to  cause  a  revolt  among  the  hotel 
visitors.  The  heating  of  the  food  is  done  by  patent 
machinery  in  ovens  and  by  the  use  of  boiling  fat.  No 
cook  is  in  these  circumstances  possible,  with  his  artistic 
feeling  for  the  production  of  a  perfect  result  of  skill  and 
taste.  A  kind  of  bottled  meat-flavoured  sauce,  manu- 


WHOLESALE  FOOD,  MECHANICAL  COOKERY  177 

factored  from  spent  yeast,  is  used  to  make  the  soups,  and 
is  poured,  with  an  equally  nauseating  result,  over  the  hard 
veal,  the  tough  chicken,  the  "  mousey  "  quails,  and  the 
tasteless  beef  and  mutton,  which  are  never  roasted,  but 
are  baked  or  stewed  in  boiling  fat — though  shamelessly 
described  as  "  rotis  "  in  the  pretentious  and  mendacious 
"  menu  "  placed  on  the  dinner-table.  The  consequence  is 
that  the  tourist,  who  has  been  overfed  at  home,  eats  very 
little,  and  his  health  benefits.  But  in  such  an  hotel  the 
man  who  lives  carefully  when  at  home,  and  desires  a 
simple  but  properly  cooked  meal,  is  reduced  to  a  state  of 
indigestion,  semi-starvation  and  misery. 

The  Englishman  who  is  disgusted  by  the  new  mechan- 
ical methods  of  cookery  in  the  great  hotels  of  Continental 
"  resorts,"  returns  to  London,  and  finds  the  same  atrocious 
system  at  work — not  only  in  the  public  restaurants,  but  in 
his  club.  Nowhere  in  London  can  you  rely  on  being 
served  with  really  fresh  fish,  however  highly  you  may  pay 
for  it.  Rarely  it  is  fresh,  usually  it  is  not.  The  ice 
storage  people  take  good  care  that  you  shall  not  obtain 
fresh  fish,  and  so  retain  your  taste  for  it.  Nowhere  at 
club  or  restaurant,  with  rare  exceptions,  can  you  obtain 
meat  roasted  in  the  old-fashioned  way  on  a  roasting-jack, 
carefully  "  basted  "  during  the  process,  and  served  when 
exactly  cooked  to  a  turn.  There  were,  only  a  few  years 
ago,  one  or  two  such  places  surviving — both  clubs  and 
restaurants — where  proper  roasting  was  done,  but,  like 
the  rest,  they  have  now  adopted  lazy,  economical,  money- 
saving  methods.  Their  managers  calculate  that  what  they 
do  will  serve.  It  is  good  enough  for  the  crowd  !  So  at  last 
you  abandon  the  efforts  to  obtain  decent  simple  food,  in 
club  or  hotel,  and  dine  with  your  friend  en  famille.  The 
same  thing  confronts  you.  The  joint  has  been  baked  in  an 
oven,  of  which  it  smells,  and  is  surrounded  by  a  sickly 
gravy,  produced  by  pouring  hot  water  over  it !  In  con- 

12 


178  FOOD  AND   COOKERY 

versation  with  your  hostess,  you  find  that  she  knows  nothing 
whatever  about  even  the  simplest  elements  of  the  prepara- 
tion of  food.  She  tells  you  she  avoids  roasting  because  it 
necessitates  a  large  fire  and  an  extra  expenditure  of  £$  a 
year  on  coal,  and  she  also  purchases  those  mouldy,  frost- 
bitten potatoes  instead  of  the  best,  because  they  cost  half 
as  much  as  sound  ones — and  she  herself  does  not  care 
for  potatoes.  They  are  fattening  ! 

Sometimes  at  a  restaurant  or  club,  served  by  a  foreign 
"  chef,"  a  Yorkshire  pudding,  as  hard  as  a  stale  loaf  of 
bread,  is  handed  round  in  slabs  with  the  so-called  "  roast  " 
beef.  It  is  not  roasted  :  it  is  baked  beef,  and  the  pudding 
is  an  ill-tasting  baked  mess,  also.  Nowhere  in  London  in 
public  or  private  house  do  I  ever  see  the  properly  cooked 
article.  True  Yorkshire  pudding  can  only  be  made  by 
placing  it  under  the  roasting  joint,  which  drips  digestion- 
promoting  essences  into  the  pudding  whilst  itself  rotating, 
hissing  and  spluttering — as  did  the  joints  roasted  in  the 
caves  long  ago  by  the  prehistoric  Reindeer  men.  The 
scientific  importance  of  good  roasting  and  grilling  is  that 
a  savour  is  thereby  produced  which  sets  the  whole  gastric 
and  digestive  economy  of  the  man  who  sniffs  it  and  tastes 
it,  at  work.  Possibly  our  successors,  a  generation  or  two 
hence,  will  have  learnt  to  do  without  it,  and  will  have 
acquired  as  intimate  and  happy  a  gastronomic  relation  to 
what  now  are  for  us  the  nauseous  flavours  of  super-heated 
fat  (rarely  renewed),  and  of  the  all-pervading  gravy  fabri- 
cated by  chemical  treatment  of  yeast,  as  that  which 
we  ourselves  have  acquired  in  regard  to  the  old-established 
and  painstaking  cookery  of  the  early  Victorian  and  many 
preceding  ages. 

Medical  men  who  are  occupied  as  specialists  with  the 
study  of  very  young  children  have  clearly  demonstrated 
that  the  implanting  of  tastes,  tendencies  and  habits  in 
infants  of  from  two  to  eight  years  of  age  has  an  immense 


THE   BURNT   OFFERING   OF   THE   JEWS      179 

importance  in  their  subsequent  development.  Character 
and  capacity  are  really  formed  in  those  early  years.  Food 
preferences,  no  less  than  mental  and  moral  qualities,  are 
then  created.  Yet  the  children  of  both  rich  and  poor  are 
in  these  early  stages  either  left  to  haphazard  or  entrusted 
to  ignorant  nursemaids.  For  those  of  us  who  were  not 
born  to  the  present  system  the  transition  to  the  new 
methods  of  wholesale  cookery  is  an  abomination,  and  to 
escape  from  them  a  matter  of  difficulty.  We  have  to 
secure  an.  ancient  roasting-jack  and  a  large  clear  fire  in  our 
own  kitchen,  and  to  instruct  our  cook — since  no  woman  has 
taught  her  what  she  ought  to  know — in  the  art  of  roasting 
and  grilling,  in  the  preparation  of  Yorkshire  pudding,  in 
the  mystery  of  the  marrow- bone  and  the  proper  and  distinct 
use  of  garlic,  onions,  shalots,  chives,  chervil,  tarragon, 
marjoram,  basil,  other  herbs,  and  divers  peppers,  and  finally 
to  train  her  in  the  supreme  accomplishment  of  the  season- 
ing of  a  salad. 

Maybe  that  the  present  established  relations  of  our 
appetites  to  the  time-honoured  savours,  by  which  the 
ancient  Jews  sought  to  propitiate  the  Deity,  are  destined 
to  be  superseded.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  quite  possible 
that  all  the  juggling  of  modern  "  machine  "  cookery  is  a 
false  step,  and  injurious  to  digestion  and  health.  It  is 
not  unlikely  that  there  is  no  relish  which  has  so  sure  a 
hold  on  the  digestion  of  European  man,  no  appeal  to  the 
cerebral  mechanism  controlling  the  liberation  of  his  gastric 
juices,  which  is  so  infallible  as  that  emanating  from  "  well 
and  truly  "  roasted  or  grilled  meat. 

It  is  not  easy  to  account  for  the  present  neglect  of 
decent  cookery  and  the  triumph  of  the  sham  French 
cookery  (for  it  is  not  French  at  all !)  which  is  at  present 
foisted  on  a  long-suffering  public.  Probably  the  enor- 
mously increased  number  of  visitors  to  foreign  resorts  and 
of  frequenters  of  restaurants  in  London  have  led  to  huge 


i8o  FOOD  AND   COOKERY 

enterprise  in  "  catering/'  and  to  a  monopoly  which  has 
driven  out  of  existence  the  smaller  establishments,  where 
alone  the  artist-cook  can  flourish.  But  it  seems  that  the 
neglect  of  decent  cooking  is  also  due  in  this  country  to  a 
racial  incapacity  and  indifference  which  leads  both  men 
and  women  to  despise  "  taking  pains  "  about  small  things, 
and  brings  them  into  the  world  devoid  of  the  desire  to 
carry  out  with  skill  those  small  enterprises  on  which  much 
of  the  sweetness  and  gaiety  of  life  depends. 

Even  in  the  time  of  Charles  II  the  skill  and  seriousness 
of  French  cookery  as  compared  with  our  own  was 
recognised.  The  high  reputation  of  Scotch  cooks  at  the 
present  day  seems  to  be  due  to  an  inheritance  of  traditions 
from  the  days  of  close  association  of  the  Scotch  and 
French  Courts.  Up  to  nearly  100  years  ago  roasting  was 
as  usual  a  method  of  cooking  meat  in  Paris  as  in  London 
There  were  "  rotisseries  "  in  Paris  in  the  old  days.  High 
prices  and  thrift  have  led  to  the  decadence  of  roasting  as  a 
popular  method  of  cooking  meat  in  France,  but  the  great 
"chef"  in  a  private  house  in  Paris  still  produces  the  most 
perfect  roast  beef  and  roast  saddle  of  mutton  (better  than 
you  will  find  in  England)  in  the  old-fashioned  way.  So 
indifferent,  or  perhaps  hopeless,  are  Englishmen  in  regard 
to  cookery  that  they  drink  a  strong  champagne  through- 
out dinner,  content  to  drown  the  insipid  taste  of  the  food 
in  the  fine  flavour  of  a  drink  upon  which  they  can  rely. 
An  Englishman  dining  at  a  first-rate  restaurant  will  usually 
spend  twice  as  much  for  wine  as  for  food,  whilst  a  French- 
man will  reverse  the  proportions.  Another  difference  is 
one  for  which  women  are  responsible.  In  Paris  a  party 
of  French  men  and  women  at  a  table  in  a  good  restaurant 
enjoy  their  food,  laugh  and  talk  with  one  another,  and  do 
not  concern  themselves  with  the  company  at  other  tables. 
It  would  be  bad  manners  to  do  so.  But  English-speaking 
women,  when  dining  in  public,  seem  to  be  chiefly  interested, 


WOMEN  NEGLECT  COOKERY      181 

not  in  their  food  nor  in  their  own  party,  but  in  pointing 
out  to  one  another  the  celebrities  or  notorieties  or 
eccentricities  seated  at  other  tables.  So  long  as  the 
place  is  fashionable  and  noisy,  the  food  is  negligible  and 
neglected. 

For  some  reason,  which  I  am  unable  to  discover,  the 
women  of  England  (it  is  not  the  case  with  those  of  France 
and  Germany)  have,  with  rare  exceptions,  no  interest  in  or 
liking  for  te  cookery,"  and  yet  the  men  have  left  the 
management  of  it  entirely  in  their  hands.  Male  "chefs" 
of  English  nationality  are  rare  specimens,  though  they 
are,  as  a  rule,  the  best  at  grilling  and  roasting.  On  the 
other  hand,  in  France,  where  women  no  less  than  men 
value  and  understand  cookery,  there  is  an  enormous  body 
of  professional  male  cooks.  Englishwomen  of  means  and 
education  have  to  such  a  degree  neglected  all  knowledge 
of  cookery  and  of  the  quality  and  criticism  of  kitchen 
supplies,  such  as  meat,  fish,  birds,  and  vegetables,  that  there 
is  no  one  to  teach  the  poor  country  girls  (who  become 
cooks  in  the  majority  of  households)  the  elements  of  the 
very  difficult  and  important  duties  which  they  are  expected 
—in  virtue  of  some  kind  of  inspiration  or  native  genius — 
to  discharge  with  skill  and  judgment :  nor  is  there  any 
head  of  a  household  capable  of  seeing  that  the  necessary 
care  and  trouble  are  given.  It  is  wonderful,  under  the 
circumstances,  how  clever  and  willing  our  domestic  cooks 
are.  A  considerable  section  of  English  middle-class 
women  at  the  present  day  are  allowed  by  the  men,  who 
should  guide  them  so  as  to  make  them  honourable  and 
useful  members  of  the  community,  to  grow  up  in  complete 
ignorance  of  the  essential  parts  of  the  art  of  cookery. 
This  was  not  the  case  a  hundred  years  ago.  Now  a  large 
proportion  of  them  have  been  led  by  bad  example  and 
foolish  notions  to  give  up  such  matters  to  "  the  servants," 
whether  they  are  able  to  afford  competent  servants  or  even 


182  FOOD  AND  COOKERY 

to  judge  of  the  competence  of  a  servant  or  not.  Many  of 
these  "  mistresses  "  now  devote  themselves  exclusively  to 
"dress,"  "amusements,"  "charity,"  "politics,"  and  dabbling 
inconsequentry  in  various  crazes.  They  are  not  to  blame. 
It  is  the  men  who  are  to  blame  who  deliberately  neglect 
to  give  to  their  womankind  a  training  and  education 
which  shall  make  them  real  mistresses  of  household  arts 
and  business,  so  .that  they  may  be  thus  filled  with  the 
happy  conviction  (which  is  the  one  thing  they  most  desire 
and  most  often  cannot  gain)  that  they  are  of  real  use — are 
really  wanted — in  the  world. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  tell  of  a  great  German  sportsman, 
Major  von  Wissman,  Governor  of  German  East  Africa, 
now  no  more,  who  came  to  see  me  at  the  Museum  nine 
years  ago.  It  was  his  first  visit  to  London,  and  I  took  him 
to  lunch  at  a  famous  grill-room.  Happily,  though  roasting 
is  dying  out,  the  art  of  grilling  still  survives  in  this  country, 
but  nowhere  else  in  Europe.  Von  Wissman  said — "  Can  I 
have  beer  where  we  are  going?"  "Yes,  certainly,"  I  said. 
"German  beer? "'he  asked.  "No,"  I  replied.  "Something 
much  better."  When  we  were  seated,  I  ordered  a  pint 
tankard  of  Reid's  London  stout  for  my  friend.  It  was  in 
perfect  condition.  He  put  his  lips  to  it  in  doubt,  but  did 
not  remove  them  until,  with  reverential  drooping  of  the 
eyelids,  he  had  emptied  the  tankard.  "  The  very  finest 
beer  I  have  ever  swallowed,"  he  said.  "  What  in  the  name 
of  goodness  is  it?"  I  told  him,  and  ordered  him  more. 
Soon  a  perfectly  grilled  chop  and  a  large,  clean,  floury 
potato  were  before  him.  He  proceeded  to  eat,  and  was 
really  and  unaffectedly  astonished.  "  But  this  is  marvellous," 
he  said  "wonderful!  enchanting!  I  have  never  really 
tasted  meat  before  in  my  life.  Reitzend!  Colossal!"  He 
had  a  steak  to  follow,  and  I  was  pleased  to  have  been 
able  to  show  him  something  which  I  knew  (by  experience 
of  that  city)  they  could  not  produce  in  Berlin.  Three 


A   GREAT  GERMAN'S  APPRECIATION       183 

days  later  I  went  over  to  the  same  hospitable  grill-room 
for  a  chop,  and  told  the  gifted  grill-cook  (the  French,  in 
former  centuries,  had  a  proverb,  "  Anyone  may  learn  to 
be  a  cook,  but  one  must  be  born  a  '  rotisseur '  ")  of  the 
admiration  he  had  excited  in  the  Emperor  William's  friend. 
"  Yes,  sir,"  he  said,  "  I  fancy  he  did  like  it,  for  he  came 
here  by  himself  yesterday  and  the  day  before,  and 
took  the  same  grills  and  stout."  Von  Wissman  was 
staying  at  the  German  Embassy,  but  was  drawn  all  the 
way  to  South  Kensington  by  the  sweet  savour  of  the  grill- 
room— an  instance  of  what  the  physiologists  call  "positive 
chemotaxis." 

What  I  have  here  written  on  food  and  cookery  is  no 
"  gourmet's  "  praise  of  indulgence  in  the  pleasures  of  the 
table,  nor  is  it  an  expression  of  a  mere  personal  preference. 
It  is  a  protest,  based  on  scientific  grounds,  against  the 
neglect  of  one  of  the  bulwarks  of  health — the  honest 
traditional  cookery  which  flourished  in  London  forty  years 
airo. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

SMELLS  AND   PERFUMES 

THE  old  saying,  "  De  gustibus  non  disputandum"  is 
based  upon  the  fact  that  both  the  liking  and  the 
repulsion  evinced  by  human  beings  for  different  odours 
(including  those  odours  which  we  call  flavours)  are  not 
matters  of  general  agreement.  Thus  the  smells  of  garlic 
and  of  onions,  and  even  of  assafcetida,  are  to  many  men 
among  the  most  attractive  and  appetising  in  existence — 
to  very  many  they  are,  on  the  other  hand,  repulsive.  High 
game,  a  certain  kind  of  putrid  fish  ("  Bombay  ducks  "),  and 
again  rotten  cheese  are  attractive  to  many  men  and  offensive 
to  as  many  more.  Many  animals  revel  in  the  smell  and 
flavour  of  carrion,  and  even  of  manure,  which  they  devour. 
There  are  well-known  flowers  which  attract  insects,  not  by 
the  possession  of  the  sweet  perfumes  appreciated  and 
extracted  by  mankind,  but  by  a  smell  like  that  of  putrid 
meat,  which  so  far  misleads  blue-bottle  flies  as  to  cause 
them  to  lay  their  eggs  on  the  reeking  blossom.  So  diverse 
are  the  tastes  of  men  and  animals  in  these  matters  that  it 
is  remarkable  when  we  find  agreement  among  them,  as, 
for  instance,  in  the  attraction  for  butterflies  of  those 
delicate  scents  which  also  are  agreeable  to  ourselves  in 
such  flowers  as  the  rose,  the  jasmine,  the  heliotrope  and 
the  honeysuckle. 

There  seems   to  be  no   rule  or  principle  at  work    by 
which  smells  can  be  definitely  classed  as  either  pleasant  or 


SMELLS  AND   MEMORY  185 

unpleasant.  Even  perfumes  carried  by  some  of  the  in- 
habitants of  Western  Europe  with  the  intention  of  making 
themselves  attractive  to  their  fellow-citizens  are  often 
repulsive  to  a  certain  proportion  of  those  who  come  near 
them,  as,  for  instance,  is  the  case  with  the  extract  of  the 
East  Indian  herb  "  patchouli."  In  regard  to  our  other 
senses  there  is  a  general  agreement  amongst  mankind, 
which  extends  also  to  all  animals,  as  to  what  is  agreeable 
and  what  is  disagreeable.  There  are  definite  mathematical 
laws  as  to  harmony  and  melody  in  sound  and  colour  which 
affect  animals  and  ourselves  to  a  large  extent  similarly. 
Sweets  are  agreeable  and  bitters  are  disagreeable,  though 
it  is  the  fact  that  the  snail,  which  loves  sugar,  recoils  from 
saccharine,  and  there  are  "  mites  "  (A can)  which  feed  with 
avidity  on  bitter  strychnine  !  Excess  of  heat  and  of  cold 
is  disliked  by  animals  and  all  men,  whilst  the  sense  of 
touch  is  pleasurably  or  painfully  affected  in  much  the  same 
way  in  most  men  and  animals,  more  than  is  the  case  with 
regard  to  any  other  of  the  senses.  The  sense  of  smell 
depends  upon  immediate  and  personal  experience  of  "asso- 
ciation "  for  the  determination  of  pleasure  or  pain,  attrac- 
tion or  repulsion,  as  the  result  of  its  being  called  into 
operation.  It  is  a  very  general  experience  that  odours 
are  more  efficient  in  arousing  memory  than  are  mere  colour 
effects  or  sounds.  Not  only  in  animals  with  acutely 
developed  olfactory  powers,  but  also  in  man,  an  odour — a 
peculiar  perfume — will  start  a  whole  chain  of  reminiscence 
when  sight  and  sound  have  failed  to  do  so.  It  is  due  to 
this  close  association  with  memory  (conscious  or  uncon- 
scious) that  an  odour  is  agreeable  or  disagreeable. 

In  itself  an  odour  is  neither  attractive  nor  repulsive. 
The  acrid  fumes  of  sulphur,  chlorine,  ammonia,  and  such 
bodies  are  not  simply  "  odours  "  but  corrosive  chemical 
vapours,  which  act  painfully  upon  the  nerves  of  common 
sensation  within  the  air-passages  of  the  nose  and  throat 


186  SMELLS  AND   PERFUMES 

and  not  exclusively,  if  at  all,  on  the  terminations  of  the 
olfactory  nerves.  An  odour — that  which  acts  on  the 
special  nerves  of  smell  distributed  in  chambers  of  the  nose 
— acquires  its  attractive  or  its  repulsive  quality  only  as  the 
result  of  mental  association  with  what  is  beneficial  (suitable 
food,  mates,  friends,  safety,  home,  the  nest),  or  with  what 
is  injurious  (unsuitable  food,  poison,  enemies,  danger,  strange 
surroundings,  solitude).  Hence  it  is  intelligible  that  the 
man  accustomed  to  garlic  or  onions  in  his  food  is  strongly 
attracted  by  their  smell.  So  too  the  man  whose  tribe  or 
companions  have  learnt  by  necessity  to  eat  slightly  putrid 
meat,  fish,  and  cheese  is  attracted  by  their  odour,  though 
for  others  these  odours  are  associated  rather  with  what  is 
poisonous  and  injurious.  The  dislike  of  the  smell  of 
sewer-gas  and  foul  accumulations  of  refuse  was  not  known 
to  former  generations  of  men  (even  in  European  cities  a 
couple  of  hundred  years  ago)  any  more  than  it  is  to-day 
to  the  more  unfortunate  poorer  classes,  to  many  modern 
savages,  to  hyenas,  and  several  other  animals  and  birds 
which  inhabit  lairs  and  caves  which  they  make  foul.  The 
odour  of  putrescence  has  become  actually  painful  and 
almost  intolerable  to  the  more  cleanly  classes  of  mankind, 
owing  to  the  association  with  it,  as  the  result  of  education, 
of  fear  of  disease  and  poisoning.  Either  conscious  or 
unconscious  association  of  an  odour  with  what  is  held, 
either  as  the  result  of  tradition  or  through  personal  expe- 
rience, to  be  beneficial  and  of  pleasant  memory,  or,  on  the 
contrary,  injurious  and  of  painful  connection,  determines 
man's  liking  for,  and  choice  or  rejection  of,  odours  and 
flavours.  One  can  account  with  fair  success  on  this  basis 
for  one's  own  preferences  and  dislikes  in  the  matter. 

On  the  other  hand,  odours  exist  in  vast  variety  amongst 
plants  and  animals  which  have  not  acquired  any  special 
association  or  significance.  We  find  that  some  organisms 
produce  as  a  result  of  their  chemical  life  material  which 


ACCIDENTAL  QUALITIES  187 

oxidises  and  gives  out  light  and  so  these  organisms  are 
"  phosphorescent  "  without  any  consequence,  good  or  bad, 
to  themselves.  And  then  we  come  upon  others  (as,  for 
instance,  the  glow-worms  and  fire-flies)  which  have  made 
use  of  this  "  accidental  "  quality,  and  produce  phosphores- 
cent light  in  special  organs  so  as  to  attract  the  opposite 
sex.  Again,  we  find  that  the  red-coloured  oxygen-seizing 
crystalline  substance  haemoglobin  exists  in  the  blood  of  a 
vast  number  of  animals,  and  might  as  well  be  green  or 
colourless  for  all  the  good  its  colour  does  them.  Yet  here 
and  there  the  splendid  red  colour  which  this  chemical 
gives  to  the  blood  becomes  of  great  importance  as  a  "decora- 
tion," or  "sex-ornament."  The  comb  of  the  domestic  fowl, 
the  wattles  of  the  turkey,  but  above  all  the  supreme  beauty 
of  the  human  race — the  cherry-red  lips  and  the  crimson- 
blushing  cheek  of  healthy  youth — owe  their  wonderful 
colour  to  the  red  blood  which  flows  through  them.  So  at 
last  the  redness  of  the  oxygen-carrier  is  turned  to  account. 
So  it  must  be  also  with  odorous  substances.  Many  have 
been  called  into  existence,  but  few  have  been  chosen  in  the 
long  course  of  animal  evolution  and  selected  as  the  impor- 
tant means  of  repulsion  or  attraction. 

There  are  odorous  substances  attached  to  many  of 
the  lower  animals  which  seem  to  have  no  significance, 
but  just  happen  to  be  the  result  of  necessary  chemical 
changes,  not  aimed  (so  to  speak)  at  their  production.  Of 
course,  it  is  very  difficult  to  form  a  certain  and  definite 
conclusion  as  as  to  their  uselessness  as  odours.  For 
instance,  nearly  all  the  sponges  when  fresh  and  filled  with 
living  protoplasm  have  a  curious  smell  which  reminds 
one  of  that  given  off  by  a  stick  of  phosphorus.  Marine 
sponges  have  it,  and  so  has  the  beautiful  green  or  flesh- 
coloured  river  sponge  (common  on  the  wood  of  rafts 
and  weirs  in  the  Thames).  A  rather  uncommon  marine 
worm,  called  Balanoglossus,  or  the  acorn  worm,  has  a  very 


i88  SMELLS  AND   PERFUMES 

strong  and  unpleasant  smell  like  that  of  iodoform.  In 
neither  case  is  the  nature  of  the  odorous  body  known, 
nor  its  use  to  the  animal  suggested.  Smelts  smell  like 
cucumbers  :  the  green-bone  fish  and  the  mackerel  smell 
alike.  One  of  the  common  earth-worms  has  a  strong 
aromatic  smell,  and  the  common  snail,  as  well  as  the  sea- 
hare  and  one  of  the  cuttlefishes  (Eledone),  smells  like 
musk.  Musk  itself  is  produced,  as  a  scent  attracting 
the  opposite  sex,  by  several  animals — musk-deer,  musk- 
sheep,  musk-rats.  I  am  not  now  attempting  to  enumerate 
the  well-recognised  odours  of  animals  such  as  are  extracted 
from  them  by  man  in  order  to  "  opsonise "  himself,  but 
am  pointing  to  the  more  obscure  cases.  There  is  not  a 
very  great  or  marked  variety  in  the  odours  of  fishes ; 
but  reptiles  with  their  dry,  oily  skins  give  off  various 
aromatic  smells,  none  of  which  are  valued  by  man.  Toads 
have  distinct  odours,  and  one  kind  (JPelobates  ftiscus, 
or  the  heel-clawed  toad),  common  in  Europe,  but  not  British, 
is  known  locally  as  the  garlic  toad  on  account  of  its  smell. 
There  are  amongst  carnivorous  mammals  various  smells 
allied  to  that  of  civet  which  are  not  so  agreeable  to  man 
as  that  substance  ;  for  instance,  the  odour  of  the  fox  and 
of  the  badger,  and  yet  more  celebrated,  the  terrible,  awe- 
inspiring  smell  of  the  fluid  emitted  in  self-defence  by  the 
skunk  from  a  sac  in  the  hinder  part  of  the  body.  Horses, 
cows,  goats,  sheep,  and  the  giraffe  have  their  distinctive 
odours.  Many  of  the  herbivorous  animals  secrete  a  colour- 
less fluid  from  large  glands  opening  on  or  near  the  feet, 
and  also  from  a  gland  in  front  of  the  eye  (similar  glands 
occur  in  other  strange  positions),  which  has  not  a  smell 
familiar  to  man — that  is  to  say,  not  one  which  has  been 
recognised  and  described — yet  seems  to  be  readily  "  smelt  " 
by  the  animals  of  its  own  kind.  The  bats — especially  the 
large  frugivorous  bats — have  a  very  unpleasant,  frowsy 
smell. 


BACTERIA  AND   SMELLS  189 

An  important  fact  about  animal  smells  is  that  many 
which  we  might  be  inclined  to  attribute  to  the  animal 
which  diffuses  them,  are  really  due  to  the  fermentative  or 
putrefactive  action  of  bacteria  which  swarm  on  the  skin 
and  in  the  intestines  of  animals.  It  is  often  difficult  to 
decide  how  far  a  peculiar  animal  odour  is  due  directly  to 
a  substance  secreted  by  the  animal,  and  how  far  the  odour 
of  that  substance  is  modified  or  even  entirely  produced  by 
the  chemical  changes  set  up  in  secretions  of  the  body- 
surface  by.  bacteria.  Several  distinct  repulsive  smells 
liable  to  occur  on  the  human  body  are  due  to  want  of 
cleanliness  in  destroying  bacteria  by  proper  antiseptics. 
The  fatty  and  waxy  secretions  of  the  skin  are  often 
decomposed  by  bacteria,  even  before  complete  extrusion 
from  the  glands  in  which  they  are  formed,  whilst  the 
decomposition  of  food  in  the  mouth  and  intestines  by 
bacteria  alters  materially  both  the  natural  odour  of  the 
animal's  breath  and  the  smell  of  the  intestinal  con- 
tents. In  young  and  healthy  animals  in  natural  conditions 
there  is  some  check — it  is  not  easy  to  say  what — 
upon  the  putrefactive  activities  of  the  omnipresent  bacteria. 
The  skin  of  a  healthy  young  animal  has  a  pleasant  odour, 
and  its  breath  (notably  in  the  case  of  the  cow  and  the 
giraffe)  is  naturally  sweet-smelling.  The  same  should  be 
the  case,  under  perfectly  healthy  conditions,  with  human 
beings. 

There  is  one  important  cause  of  animal  odours  and 
flavours  upon  which  I  have  not  hitherto  touched.  Many 
animals  acquire  an  odour  or  flavour  directly  from  the  food 
upon  which  they  feed.  Certain  odorous  bodies  are  in  the 
food  and  are  taken  up  into  the  blood  of  the  consuming 
animal  unchanged,  and  are  then  thrown  out  by  secreting 
glands  on  the  skin.  This  is  the  case  with  the  odorous 
substance  of  onions.  People  do  not  smell  of  onions  after 
they  have  eaten  them  in  conseqence  of  particles  of  onion 


i  go 


SMELLS  AND  PERFUMES 


remaining  in  the  mouth.  The  volatile  odoriferous  matter 
of  the  onion  is  absorbed  into  the  blood.  It  passes  out  first 
through  the  lungs  and  later  through  the  small  fat-forming 
glands  in  the  skin.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  how  far 
animals  derive  their  odours  in  this  way  in  a  complete  state 
from  their  food,  and  how  far  they  chemically  construct 
them  afresh  by  their  own  activity.  No  doubt  both 
processes  occur  ;  but  in  plants  the  odorous  bodies  are  built 
up  entirely  by  the  chemical  action  of  the  plant  itself  upon 
simple  salts  of  carbonic  acid,  ammonia  and  nitrates. 
Animals  can  certainly  take  highly  elaborated  chemical 
bodies  into  their  digestive  organs  without  destroying  them 
and  absorb  them  unchanged  into  the  blood  and  deposit 
them  in  the  tissues.  Thus  the  canary  is  made  to  take  up 
the  red  colour  of  cayenne  pepper  and  deposit  it  in  the 
feathers.  Thus  the  green  oysters  of  Marennes  acquire 
their  colour  from  minute  blue  plants  (diatoms)  on  which 
they  feed.  And  thus,  too,  the  canvas-backed  ducks  of  the 
United  States  take  into  their  tissues  the  odorous  matter 
of  celery,  and  our  own  grouse  the  flavour  of  heather,  whilst 
fish-eating  birds  and  whales  in  this  way  acquire  a  fishy 
taste.  So,  too,  the  flounders  and  the  eels  of  the  Thames, 
and  even  salmon  in  muddy  rivers,  acquire  a  taste  like  the 
smell  of  river  mud.  It  is  probable  that  many  of  the  odours 
of  animals  (but  by  no  means  all)  are  thus  derived  directly 
from  their  food,  or  are  produced  by  very  slight  changes  of 
the  odorous  bodies  absorbed  in  food.  Mutton  and  beef 
owe  their  savour  in  some  degree  to  the  scents  of  the 
grasses  on  which  sheep  and  oxen  feed.  And  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  the  sheep-like  smell  which  the  Chinese  detect 
in  the  European,  comes  to  the  latter  direct  from  his 
general  use  of  the  sheep  as  food. 

Plants  are  the  great  chemical  manufacturers  in  the  world 
of  life,  and  second  to  them  come  our  human  industrial  and 
scientific  chemists.  And  though  we  must  claim  for  animals 


SOME   REMARKABLE   SMELLS 


191 


some  power  of  manufacturing  distinct  odorous  bodies  from 
inodorous  nutritive  matter  assimilated  by  them,  it  is 
probable  that  in  many  cases  the  odour  which  is  characteristic 
of  an  animal  is  derived  by  no  very  complicated  change 
from  odorous  bodies  existing  in  its  habitual  food. 

A  curious  case  of  a  substance  valued  as  perfume  by 
civilised  man,  and  yet  coming  from  a  source  whence  sweet 
odours  would  hardly  be  expected,  is  that  which  is  known 
as  "  ambergris,"  or  "  ambre  gris  "  (grey  amber).  It  is  still 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  esteemed  perfumes,  and  is  sold 
at  five  guineas  the  ounce.  It  is  found  floating  on  the 
surface  of  the  ocean,  and  is  a  concretion  of  imperfectly 
digested  matter  from  the  intestine  of  a  whale — probably 
the  sperm-whale.  It  is  a  grey,  powdery  substance,  and  in 
it  are  embedded  innumerable  fragments  of  the  horny  beaks 
and  sucker-rings  of  cuttle-fishes — creatures  which  form  the 
chief  food  of  the  sperm-whale  and  other  toothed  whales. 
I  have  already  mentioned  above  that  one  of  our  common 
cuttle-fishes  (the  Eledone  moschata)  has  a  strong  odour  of 
musk  and  it  is  possible  that  ambergris  owes  its  perfume  to 
the  musk-like  scent  of  the  cuttle-fish  eaten  by  the  whale 
in  whose  intestine  it  is  formed.  Another  "  smell  "  which  is 
extremely  mysterious  is  that  produced  by  two  quartz- 
pebbles,  or  even  two  rock-crystals,  or  two  pebbles  of 
flint  or  of  corundum,  when  rubbed  one  against  the 
other.  A  flash  of  light  is  seen,  and  this  is  accompanied 
by  a  very  distinct  smell,  like  that  given  out  by  burning 
cotton-wool.  It  is  demonstrated — by  careful  chemical 
cleaning  before  the  experiment — that  this  is  not  due  to 
the  presence  of  any  organic  matter  on  or  in  the  stones 
or  crystals  used.  It  seems  to  be  an  exception  to  the 
rule  that  "  odours  "  (as  distinct  from  pungent  vapours  or 
gases)  are  only  produced  by  substances  formed  by  plants 
or  animals.  Perhaps  that  is  not  so  completely  a  rule  as  I 
was  inclined  to  think.  It  is  true  that  one  can  distinguish 


ig2  SMELLS  AND   PERFUMES 

the  "  smells  "  of  chlorine,  of  bromine,  and  of  iodine  from 
one  another.  And  there  are  statements  current  as  to  the 
distinctive  smells  of  metals — though  they  may  possibly  be 
due  to  the  action  of  the  metals  on  organic  matter.  In  any 
case  it  seems,  according  to  our  present  knowledge,  that  the 
smell  given  out  by  the  rubbing  of  pieces  of  silica  (quartz, 
flint,  etc.)  is  due  to  particles  of  silica  (oxide  of  silicon) 
volatilised  by  the  heat  of  friction,  which  are  capable  of 
acting  specifically  on  the  olfactory  sense-organ. 


CHAPTER    XIV 
KISSES 

"  Among  thy  fancies,  tell  me  this, 
What  is  the  thing  we  call  a  kiss  ? 
I  shall  resolve  ye  what  it  is." 

— ROBERT  HERRICK. 

KISSING  is  an  extremely  ancient  habit  of  mankind, 
coming  to  us  from  far  beyond  the  range  of  history,  and 
undoubtedly  practised  by  the  remote  animal-like  ancestors 
of  the  human  race.  Poets  have  exalted  it,  and  in  these 
hygienic  days  doctors  have  condemned  it.  In  the  United 
States  they  have  even  proposed  to  forbid  it  by  law,  on  the 
ground  that  disease  germs  may  be  (and  undeniably  are  in 
some  cases)  conveyed  by  it  from  one  individual  to  another. 
But  it  is  too  deep-rooted  in  human  nature,  and  has  a  sig- 
nificance and  origin  too  closely  associated  with  human 
well-being  in  the  past,  and  even  in  the  present,  to  permit 
of  its  being  altogether  "  tabooed  "  by  medical  authority. 

There  are  two  kinds  of  "  kissing  "  practised  by  mankind 
at  the  present  time — one  takes  the  form  of  "  nose-rubbing  " 
— each  kiss-giver  rubbing  his  nose  against  that  of  the 
other.  The  second  kind,  which  is  that  familiar  to  us  in 
Europe,  consists  in  pressing  the  lips  against  the  lips,  skin, 
or  hair  of  another  individual,  and  making  a  short,  quick 
inspiration,  resulting  in  a  more  or  less  audible  sound. 
Both  kinds  are  really  of  the  nature  of  "  sniffing,"  the 

13 


i94 


KISSES 


active  effort  to  smell  or  explore  by  the  olfactory  sense. 
The  "  nose-kiss "  exists  in  races  so  far  apart  from  one 
another  as  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand  and  the  Esquimaux 
of  the  Arctic  regions.  It  is  the  habit  of  the  Chinese,  of 
the  Malays,  and  other  Asiatic  races.  The  only  Europeans 
who  practise  it  are  the  Laplanders.  The  lip-kiss  is  dis- 
tinguished by  some  authorities  as  "  the  salute  by  taste  " 
from  nose-rubbing,  which  is  "  the  salute  by  smell."  The 
word  "  kiss  "  is  connected  by  Skeat  with  the  Latin  "  gustus," 
taste  ;  both  words  signify  essentially  "  choice."  But  it 
would  be  a  mistake  to  regard  the  lip-kiss  as  merely  an 
effort  to  taste  in  the  strict  sense,  since  the  act  of  inspira- 
tion accompanying  it  brings  the  olfactory  passages  of  the 
nose  into  play.  Lip-kissing  is  frequently  mentioned  in  the 
most  ancient  Hebrew  books  of  the  Bible,  and  it  was  also 
the  method  of  affectionate  salutation  among  the  Ancient 
Greeks.  Primarily  both  kinds  of  kissing  were,  there  can 
be  no  doubt,  an  act  of  exploration,  discrimination,  and 
recognition  dependent  on  the  sense  of  smell.  The  more 
primitive  character  of  the  kiss  is  retained  by  the  lovers' 
kiss,  the  mother's  kissing  and  sniffing  of  her  babe,  and  by 
the  kiss  of  salutation  to  a  friend  returning  from  or  setting 
out  on  a  distant  journey.  Identification  and  memorising 
by  the  sense  of  smell  is  the  remote  origin  and  explanation 
of  those  kisses.  The  kissing  of  one  another  by  grown-up 
men  as  a  salutation  was  abandoned  in  this  country  as  late 
as  the  eighteenth  century.  "  Tis  not  the  fashion  here," 
says  a  London  gentleman  to  his  country-bred  friend  in 
Congreve's  '  Way  of  the  World.'  But  we  have,  most  of 
us,  witnessed  it  abroad,  and  perhaps  been  unexpectedly 
subjected  to  the  process,  as  I  once  was  by  an  affectionate 
scientific  colleague.  Independently  of  the  more  ordinary 
practice  of  kissing — there  is  the  "  ceremonial  kiss  " — the 
kissing  of  hands,  or  of  feet  and  toes,  which  still  survives  in 
Court  functions — whilst  the  Viennese  and  the  Spaniards, 


KISSING    AND    SMELLING  195 

though  they  no  longer  actually  carry  out  their  threat, 
habitually  startle  a  foreigner  by  exclaiming — "I  kiss  your 
hands."  The  Russian  Sclavs  are  the  most  profuse  and 
indiscriminate  of  European  peoples  in  their  kissing.  I 
have  seen  a  Russian  gentleman  about  to  depart  on  a  journey 
"  devoured  "  by  the  kisses  of  his  relations  and  household 
retainers,  male  and  female.  Among  the  poor  in  rural 
districts  in  Russia  this  excessive  habit  of  kissing  leads  to 
the  propagation  of  the  most  terrible  ulcerative  disease 
among  innocent  people — as  related  by  Metchnikoff  in  the 
lectures  on  modern  hygiene  which  he  gave  in  London  some 
seven  or  eight  years  ago  (published  by  Heinemann). 

We  may  take  it,  then,  that  the  act  of  kissing  is  primarily 
and  in  its  remote  origin  an  exploration  by  the  sense  of 
smell,  which  has  either  lost  its  original  significance,  and 
become  ceremonial,  or  has,  even  though  still  appealing  to 
the  sense  of  smell,  ceased  to  be  (if,  indeed,  it  ever  was  so) 
consciously  and  deliberately  an  exercise  of  that  sense. 
This  leads  us  to  the  very  interesting  subject  of  the  sense 
of  smell  in  man  and  in  other  animals.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  sense  of  smell  is  not  so  acute  in  man  as  it  is  in 
many  of  the  higher  animals,  and  even  in  some  of  the 
lower  forms,  such  as  insects.  It  is  the  fact  that  so  far  as 
we  can  trace  its  existence  and  function  in  animals,  the 
sense  of  smell  is  of  prime  importance  as  distinguishing 
odours  which  are  associated  either  with  objects  or  condi- 
tions favourable  to  the  individual  and  its  race,  or,  on  the 
other  hand,  hostile  and  injurious  to  it.  It  never  reaches 
such  an  extended  development  as  a  source  of  information 
or  general  relation  of  the  individual  to  its  surroundings  as 
do  the  senses  of  sight,  hearing  and  touch.  It  depends  for 
its  utility  on  the  existence  of  odorous  bodies  which  are 
not  very  widely  present,  and  are  far  from  universal  accom- 
paniments of  natural  objects.  Apart  from  some  pungent 
mineral  gases,  all  odorous  bodies  are  of  organic  origin. 


196  KISSES 

Even  as  recognised  by  the  less  acute  olfactory  sense  of 
man,  the  number  and  variety  of  agreeable  and  of  dis- 
agreeable scents,  produced  by  various  species  of  animals 
and  plants,  is  very  considerable.  But  there  is  no  doubt 
that  the  number  and  variety  discriminated  by  such  animals 
as  dogs  and  many  of  the  other  hairy,  warm-blooded  beasts 
is  far  greater.  The  nature  of  the  particles  given  off  by 
odorous  bodies  which  act  on  the  nerve-endings  of  the 
organs  of  smell  of  animals,  is  remarkable.  They  are  vola- 
tile ;  that  is  to  say,  they  are  thrown  off  from  their  source 
and  float  in  the  air  in  a  state  of  extreme  subdivision. 
Unlike  the  particles  which  act  upon  the  nerves  of  taste, 
they  are  not  necessarily  soluble  in  water,  and  though  often 
spread  through  and  carried  by  liquids,  are  in  fact  rarely 
dissolved  in  water.  The  dissolved  particles  which  act 
upon  the  nerves  of  taste  can  be  distinguished  by  man  into 
four  groups — sweet,  sour,  bitter,  and  saline.  But  no  such 
classification  of  "  smells  "  is  possible.  As  a  rule  mankind 
confuses  the  "  taste  "  of  things  with  their  accompanying 
"  smell."  The  finer  flavours  of  food  and  drink  not  included 
in  the  four  classes  of  tastes  are  really  due  to  odoriferous 
particles  present  in  the  food  or  drink,  which  act  on  the 
terminations  of  the  olfactory  nerves  in  the  recesses  of 
the  nose,  and  excite  no  sensation  through  the  nerves  of 
taste. 

The  part  of  the  brain  from  which  the  nerves  of  smell 
arise  is  of  relatively  enormous  size  in  the  lower  vertebrates 
— as  much  as  one  fifth  of  the  volume  of  the  entire  brain 
in  fishes — a  fact  which  seems  to  indicate  great  importance 
for  the  sense  of  smell  in  those  forms.  Even  in  the  mammals 
(the  hairy,  warm-blooded,  young-suckling  beasts)  the  size 
of  the  olfactory  lobes  of  the  brain  and  of  the  olfactory 
nerves,  and  the  labyrinthine  chambers  of  the  nose  on  which 
the  nerves  are  spread,  is  very  large,  as  one  may  see  by 
looking  -at  a  mammal's  skull  divided  into  right  and  left 


VARIATIONS    IN   THE    SENSE   OF    SMELL    197 

halves.  And  it  seems  immoderately  large  to  us — to  man 
—because,  after  all,  so  far  as  our  conscious  lives  are  con- 
cerned, the  sense  of  smell  has  very  small  importance.  Yet 
man  has  a  very  considerable  set  of  olfactive  chambers 
within  the  nostrils  and  has  large  olfactory  nerves.  Not 
rarely  men  and  women  are  found  who  are  absolutely  devoid 
of  the  sense  of  smell,  and  the  same  thing  occurs  with 
domesticated  cats  and  dogs.  In  these  cases  the  olfactory 
lobes  of  the  brain  are  imperfectly  developed.  It  is  found 
that  men  in  this  condition  suffer  but  little  inconvenience  in 
consequence.  We  are  able,  through  their  statements,  to 
ascertain  what  parts  of  the  savoury  qualities  of  food  and 
drink  belong  to  taste  and  what  to  smell.  Such  individuals 
do  not  perceive  perfumes,  the  bouquet  of  wine,  or  the 
fragrance  of  tobacco,  nor  can  they  appreciate  the  artistic 
efforts  of  a  good  cook.  "But  they  are  spared  the  pain  of 
foul  smells,  and  possibly  in  this  way  they  may  incur  some 
danger  in  civilised  life  through  not  being  able  to  detect  the 
escape  of  sewer-gas  or  of  coal-gas  into  a  house,  or  the 
putrid  condition  of  ice-stored  fish,  birds,  and  meat.  A 
friend  of  my  own,  who  is  devoid  of  the  sense  of  smell,  in- 
herited this  defect  from  his  father,  and  has  transmitted  it 
to  some  of  his  children.  I  was  surprised  to  find  in  con- 
versing with  him  how  often  I  alluded  to  smells,  either 
pleasant  or  unpleasant,  when  (as  we  had  agreed  he  should) 
he  would  interrupt  me  and  say  that  my  remark  had  no 
meaning  for  him. 

Some  have  a  far  more  acute  sense  of  smell  than  others, 
and  again  some  men,  probably  without  being  more  acutely 
endowed  in  that  way,  pay  more  attention  to  smells,  and 
use  the  memory  of  them  in  description  and  conversation. 
Guy  de  Maupassant  is  remarkable  as  a  writer  for  his 
abundant  introduction  of  references  to  agreeable  and 
mysterious  perfumes,  and  also  to  repulsive  odours.  But 
some  men  certainly  have  an  exceptionally  acute  sense  of 


ig8  KISSES 

smell,  and  can,  on  entering  an  empty  room,  recognise  that 
such  and  such  a  person  has  been  there  by  the  faint  traces 
— not  of  perfumery  carried  by  the  visitor — but  of  his 
individual  smell  or  odour.  This  brings  us  to  one  of  the 
most  important  facts  about  odorous  bodies  and  the  sense 
of  smell,  namely,  that  not  only  do  the  various  species  of 
animals  (and  plants)  each  have  their  own  odour — often 
difficult  or  impossible  for  man,  with  his  aborted  olfactory 
powers,  to  distinguish — but  that  every  individual  has  its 
own  special  odour.  As  to  how  far  this  can  be  considered 
a  universal  disposition  is  doubtful.  It  is  probable  that  the 
power  of  discriminating  such  individual  odours  is  limited 
(even  in  the  case  of  dogs,  where  it  is  sometimes  very  highly 
developed),  to  a  power  of  discriminating  the  distinctive 
smells  of  the  individuals  of  certain  species  of  animals,  and 
not  of  every  individual  of  every  species.  Everyone  knows 
of  the  wonderful  power  of  the  bloodhound  in  tracking  an 
individual  man  by  his  smell,  but  dogs  of  other  breeds  also 
often  possess  what  seem  to  us  extraordinary  powers  of  the 
kind.  On  a  pebbly  beach  I  pick  up  one  smooth  flint 
pebble  as  big  as  a  walnut.  It  is  closely  similar  to  thou- 
sands of  others  lying  there.  I  hold  it  in  my  hand  without 
letting  my  fox-terrier  see  it,  and  then  I  throw  it.  It  drops 
some  eighty  yards  off  among  the  other  pebbles,  and  I 
could  not  myself  find  it  again.  But  the  dog  runs  forward, 
notes  vaguely  by  ear  and  by  eye  the  spot  where  it  strikes, 
and  then  commences  a  systematic  circling  within  about  ten 
yards  of  the  spot.  In  half  a  minute  he  pounces  with  the 
utmost  assurance  on  to  one  selected  stone,  and  brings  it  to 
me.  It  is  invariably  the  stone  which  had  been  in  my  hand, 
unseen  by  the  dog,  thrown  by  me,  and  detected  by  the  smell 
I  have  communicated  to  it. 

Not  only  is  the  discrimination  of  individuals  by  the  sense 
of  smell  a  very  astonishing  thing,  but  so  also  is  the  obvious 
fact  that  the  total  amount  of  odoriferous  matter  which  is 


RADIATION    AND    ODOURS 


199 


sufficient  to  give  a  definite  and  discriminative  sensation 
through  the  organ  of  smell  is  of  a  minuteness  beyond  all  cal- 
culation or  conception.  These  two  facts — the  almost  infinite 
individual  diversity  of  smell  and  the  almost  infinite  minute- 
ness of  the  particles  exciting  it — render  it  very  difficult  to 
form  a  satisfactory  conclusion  as  to  the  nature  of  those 
particles.  It  has  been  from  time  to  time  suggested  that  the 
end-organs  of  the  olfactory  nerves  may  be  excited,  not  by 
chemically  active  particles,  but  by  "  rays,"  olfactive  undula- 
tions comparable  to  those  of  light.  Physicists  have  not  yet 
been  able  to  deal  with  the  problem,  but  the  recent  discoveries 
and  theories  as  to  radio-active  bodies  such  as  radium  may 
possibly  lead  to  some  more  plausible  theory  as  to  the 
diffusion  and  minuteness  of  odorous  particles  than  any 
which  has  yet  been  formulated.  An  example  of  the 
minuteness  of  odoriferous  particles  is  afforded  by  a  piece 
of  musk  which  for  ten  years  in  succession  has  given  off 
into  the  changing  air  of  an  ordinary  room  "  particles  " 
causing  a  readily  recognised  smell  of  musk,  and  yet  is 
found  at  the  end  of  that  time  to  have  lost  no  weight,  that 
is  to  say,  no  weight  which  can  be  appreciated  by  the  finest 
chemical  balance.  An  analogy  (I  say  only  an  analogy, 
a  resemblance)  to  this  is  furnished  by  a  pinch  of  the  salt 
know  as  radium  chloride,  no  bigger  than  a  rape-seed,  and 
enclosed  in  a  glass  tube,  which  will  continue  for  months 
and  years  to  emit  penetrating  particles  producing  continu- 
ously without  cessation  most  obvious  luminous  and 
electrical  effects  upon  distant  objects,  the  particles  being 
so  minute  that  no  loss  of  weight  can  be  detected  in  the 
pinch  of  salt  from  which  they  are  given  off. 
The  sense  of  smell  is  of  service  to  animals — 

(1)  In  avoiding  enemies  and  noxious  things. 

(2)  In  tracing  and  following  and  discriminating  prey  or 
other  food. 

(3)  In  recognising  members  of  their  own  species  and 


200  KISSES 

individuals  of  their  own  herd  or  troop,  and  in  finding  their 
own  young  and  their  own  nests. 

(4)  In  seeking  individuals  of  the  opposite  sex  at  the 
breeding  season. 

It  is  in  connection  with  the  last  of  these  services  that 
we  come  across  some  of  the  most  curious  observations  as 
to  the  production  and  perception  of  odorous  particles. 
Butterflies  and  moths  and  some  other  insects  have  olfactory 
organs  in  the  ends  of  the  antennae  and  the  "  palps  "  about 
the  mouth.  The  perfumes  of  flowers  have  been  developed  so 
as  to  attract  insects  by  the  sense  of  smell,  as  their  colours 
also  have  been  developed  to  attract  insects  by  the  eye. 
The  insects  serve  the  flowers  by  carrying  the  fertilising 
pollen  from  one  flower  to  another,  and  thus  promoting 
cross-fertilisation  among  separate  individual  plants  of  the 
same  species.  But  probably  concurrently  with  this  has 
grown  up  the  production  of  perfume  by  the  scales  on  the 
wings  of  moths  and  butterflies — perfumes  which  have  the 
most  powerful  attraction  for  the  opposite  sex  of  the  same 
species.  Curiously  enough  (for  these  perfumes  might  very 
well  exist  without  being  detected  by  man)  some  of  the  per- 
fumes produced  by  butterflies  are  "  smellable "  by  man. 
That  of  the  green-veined  white  is  described  as  resembling 
the  agreeable  odour  of  the  lemon  verbena.  It  is  produced 
by  certain  scales  on  the  front  border  of  the  hinder  wings 
of  the  male  insects,  and  not  at  all  by  the  females,  who  are, 
however,  attracted  by  it,  and  flutter  around  the  sweet- 
smelling  male.  Other  male  butterflies  produce  a  scent 
like  that  of  sweet  briar,  others  like  honeysuckle,  others  like 
jasmine,  and  so  attract  the  females.  Other  butterflies  are 
known  which  produce  repulsive  odours,  and  so  protect 
themselves  from  being  eaten  by  birds  and  lizards.  Again, 
there  are  moths  (for  instance,  the  emperor  moth,  Saturnia), 
the  females  of  which  produce  a  perfume  which  attracts  the 
males,  and  is  of  far-reaching  power.  The  French  ento- 


ATTRACTION    BY    SMELL  201 

mologist  Fabre  placed  one  of  these  female  moths  in  a  box 
covered  with  net-gauze,  and  left  it  in  a  room  with  open 
window,  facing  the  countryside.  In  less  than  an  hour  the 
room  was  full  of  male  emperor  moths — more  than  a 
hundred  arrived,  although  none  had  been  previously  visible 
in  the  neighbourhood.  They  crowded  over  the  box,  and 
even  afterwards,  when  the  female  moth  had  been  removed, 
the  perfume  remained  in  the  box,  and  the  male  moths 
eagerly  sought  it.  The  perfume  must  have  carried  far 
from  the  room  where  the  female  was,  out  into  the  woods 
where  it  was  perceived,  and  followed  up  to  its  source  by 
the  male  moths. 

Such  perfumes  are  very  generally  produced  by  little 
pockets  or  glands  in  the  skin,  the  secretion  having,  in  the 
case  of  insects,  birds  and  mammals,  an  oily  nature.  In 
mammals  they  are  largely  produced  by  both  males  and 
females,  and  serve  to  attract  the  sexes  to  one  another. 
Hairs  are  situated  close  to  the  minute  odoriferous  glands  and 
serve  an  important  part  in  accumulating  and  diffusing  the 
characteristic  perfume.  Musk  and  civet  are  of  this  nature, 
and  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  these  substances  are  used 
as  perfumes  by  human  beings.  It  would  seem  as  though 
mankind  had  lost  either  the  power  of  satisfactorily  perceiving 
the  perfumes  naturally  produced  by  the  human  skin,  or  that 
the  production  of  such  perfumes  had  for  some  reason 
diminished.  Either  condition  would  account  for  the  use 
by  mankind  of  the  perfumes  of  other  animals  and  of 
flowers.  There  are  a  variety  of  odorous  substances  produced 
by  different  parts  of  the  human  body,  of  which  some  are 
agreeable  and  others  disagreeable.  One  of  the  most 
curious  facts  in  regard  to  odorous  bodies  is  the  close 
resemblance  between  agreeable  and  repulsive  odours,  and 
the  readiness  with  which  the  judgment  of  human  beings 
may  pronounce  the  same  odour  agreeable  at  one  period  or 
place,  and  disagreeable  at  another.  There  also  seems  to  be 


202  KISSES 

a  "  dulling  "  of  the  power  to  perceive  an  odour  which  is  a 
consequence  of  constant  exposure  to  that  odour.  Thus  the 
Chinese  say  that  Europeans  all  smell  unpleasantly,  the 
odour  resembling  that  of  sheep,  although  we  do  not  observe 
it  ;  whilst  Europeans  notice  and  dislike  the  smell  of  the 
negro,  a  smell  of  the  existence  of  which  he  is  unaware. 
The  blood  of  animals,  including  that  of  man,  has,  when 
freshly  shed,  a  smell  peculiar  to  the  species,  which  has  not, 
however,  any  resemblance  to  that  of  the  skin  or  of  the  waxy 
glands  of  the  same  animal. 

It  seems  that  in  regard  to  the  exercise  of  the  sense  of 
smell  by  man,  we  must  distinguish  not  only  greater  from 
less  acuteness  and  variety  of  perception,  but  in  the  case  of 
this  sense-organ,  as  in  regard  to  the  others,  we  must 
distinguish  "  unconscious  "  from  "  conscious  "  sensation. 
All  our  movements  are  guided  and  determined  by  sensations 
of  touch  and  sight,  and  to  some  extent,  of  hearing,  of  which 
we  are  unconscious.  A  vast  amount  of  our  sense-experience 
comes  to  us  and  is  recorded  without  our  having  conscious- 
ness of  anything  of  the  kind  going  on.  It  is  probable  that 
the  world  of  smells  in  which  a  dog  with  a  fine  olfactive 
sense  lives,  produces  little  or  nothing  in  the  dog's  mind 
which  is  equivalent  to  our  conscious  perception  of  degrees 
of  agreeable  and  disagreeable  odours.  The  dog  is  simply 
attracted  and  repulsed  in  this  direction  and  in  that  by  the 
operation  of  his  olfactive  organs,  without,  so  to  speak, 
giving  any  attention  to  the  sensation  which  is  guiding  him 
or  being  "  aware  "  of  it.  No  doubt  at  times,  and  with 
special  intensities  of  smell,  he  is,  in  his  way,  conscious  ot 
a  specific  sensation.  It  is  probable  that  whilst  man's 
general  acuteness  in  perceiving  and  discriminating  smells 
has  dwindled  (as  has  that  of  the  apes)  in  comparison  with 
what  it  was  in  his  remote  animal  ancestry,  yet  he  retains 
a  large  inherited  capacity  of  unconscious  smell-sense,  which 
most  of  us  are  unable  to  recognise,  although  it  is  there, 


UNCONSCIOUS    GUIDANCE    BY    SMELL    203 

operating  in  ourselves  unknown  to  us  and  unobserved. 
The  consciousness  of  smell-sensations  is  what  we  value  and 
talk  of.  It  does  not  extend  to  the  more  primal  smell- 
excitations,  except  in  extraordinary  individuals.  Thus,  it 
seems  to  be  not  improbable  that  we  are  attracted  or 
repelled  by  other  human  individuals  by  the  unconscious 
operation  upon  us  of  attractive  or  repulsive  odours,  and 
that  the  unaccountable  liking  or  disliking  which  we  some- 
times experience  in  regard  to  other  individuals  is  due 
to  perfumes  and  odours  emanating  from  such  persons, 
which  act  upon  us  through  our  olfactory  organs  without 
our  being  conscious  of  the  fact.  It  seems  that  we  can  thus 
arrive  at  a  probable  explanation  of  the  universality  of  the 
habit  of  kissing,  and  of  "  what  is  that  thing  we  call  a  kiss." 
It  is  not  consciously  used  among  civilised  populations  as  a 
deliberate  attempt  to  smell  the  person  kissed,  but  it 
nevertheless  serves  to  allow  the  unconscious  exercise  of 
smell-preference,  testing,  and  selection,  with  which  are 
mingled,  more  or  less  frequently,  moments  of  conscious 
appreciation  of  the  complex  of  odours  appertaining  as  an 
individual  quality  to  the  person  kissed. 


CHAPTER    XV 
LAUGHTER 

ancients  associated  laughter  with  the  New  Year. 
I  am  not  sure  whether  or  no  it  is  of  good  omen  to 
begin  the  New  Year  with  laughter.  Omens  are  such 
tricky  things  that  I  have  given  up  paying  any  attention 
to  them.  One  would  think  it  might  be  held  to  be  unlucky 
to  stumble  on  the  doorstep  as  you  set  out  from  home,  but 
the  old  omen-wizards,  apparently  from  sheer  love  of  contra- 
diction, said,  "  Not  at  all  !  It  is  unlucky  to  stumble  as 
you  come  into  the  house,  and  therefore  it  is  lucky  to 
stumble  as  you  go  out !  " 

What  is  laughter?  It  is  a  spasmodic  movement  of 
various  muscles  of  the  body,  beginning  with  those  which 
half  close  the  eyes  and  those  which  draw  backwards  and 
upwards  the  sides  of  the  mouth,  and  open  it  so  as  to 
expose  the  teeth,  next  affecting  those  of  respiration  so  as 
to  produce  short  rapidly  succeeding  expirations  accom- 
panied by  sound  (called  "  guffaws  "  when  in  excess),  and 
then  extending  to  the  limbs,  causing  up  and  down  move- 
ment of  the  half-closed  fists  and  stamping  of  the  feet,  and 
ending  in  a  rolling  on  the  ground  and  various  contortions 
of  the  body.  Clapping  the  hands  is  not  part  of  the 
laughter  "  process,"  but  a  separate,  often  involuntary, 
action  which  has  the  calling  of  attention  to  oneself  as  its 
explanation,  just  as  slapping  the  ground  or  a  table  or 
one's  thigh  has.  Laughter  is  spontaneous,  that  is  to  say, 


WHY    DO    WE    LAUGH?  205 

the  movements  are  not  designed  or  directed  by  the 
conscious  will.  But  in  mankind,  in  proportion  as  indivi- 
duals are  trained  in  self-control,  it  is  more  or  less  com- 
pletely under  command,  and  in  spite  of  the  most  urgent 
tendency  of  the  automatic  mechanism  to  enter  upon  the 
progressive  series  of  movements  which  we  distinguish  as 
(i)  smile,  (2)  broad  smile  or  grin,  (3)  laugh,  (4)  loud 
laughter,  (5)  paroxysms  of  uncontrolled  laughter,  a  man 
or  woman  can  prevent  all  indication  by  muscular  move- 
ment of  a  desire  to  laugh  or  even  to  smile.  Usually 
laughter  is  excited  by  certain  pleasurable  emotions,  and  is 
to  be  regarded  as  an  "  expression  "  of  such  emotion  just  as 
certain  movements  and  the  flow  of  tears  are  an  "  expres- 
sion "  of  the  painful  emotion  of  grief  and  physical  suffering, 
and  as  other  movements  of  the  face  and  limbs  are  an 
"  expression "  of  anger,  others  of  "  fear."  The  Greek 
gods  of  Olympus  enjoyed  "  inextinguishable  laughter." 

It  is  interesting  to  see  how  far  we  can  account  for  the 
strange  movements  of  laughter  as  part  of  the  inherited 
automatic  mechanism  of  man.  Why  do  we  laugh  ? 
What  is  the  advantage  to  the  individual  or  the  species  of 
"  laughing  "  ?  Why  do  we  "  express  "  our  pleasurable 
emotion,  and  why  in  this  way  ?  It  is  said  that  the  out- 
cast diminutive  race  of  Ceylon  known  as  the  Veddas 
never  laugh,  and  it  has  even  been  seriously  but  erro- 
neously stated  that  the  muscles  which  move  the  face  in 
laughter,  are  wanting  in  them.  A  planter  induced  some 
of  these  people  to  camp  in  his  "  compound,"  or  park, 
in  order  to  learn  something  of  their  habits,  language, 
and  beliefs.  One  day  he  said  to  the  chief  man  of  the 
little  tribe,  "  You  Veddas  never  laugh.  Why  do  you 
never  laugh  ?  "  The  little  wild  man  replied,  "  It  is  true  ; 
we  never  laugh.  What  is  there  for  us  to  laugh  at  ?  " — an 
answer  almost  terrible  in  its  pathetic  submission  to  .a 
joyless  life.  For  laughter  is  primarily,  to  all  races  and 


206  LAUGHTER 

conditions  of  men,  the  accompaniment,  the  expression  of 
the  simple  joy  of  life.  It  has  acquired  a  variety  of  relations 
and  significations  in  the  course  of  the  long  development 
of  conscious  man — but  primarily  it  is  an  expression  of 
emotion,  set  going  by  the  experience  of  the  elementary 
joys  of  life — the  light  and  heat  of  the  sun,  the  approach 
of  food,  of  love,  of  triumph. 

Before  we  look  further  into  the  matter  it  is  well  to  note 
some  exceptional  cases  of  the  causation  of  laughter.  The 
first  of  these  is  the  excitation  of  laughter  by  a  purely 
mechanical  "  stimulus  "  or  action  from  the  exterior,  without 
any  corresponding  mental  emotion  of  joy — namely  by 
"  tickling,"  that  is  to  say,  by  light  rubbing  or  touching  of 
the  skin  under  the  arms  or  at  the  side  of  the  neck,  or  on 
the  soles  of  the  feet.  Yet  a  certain  readiness  to  respond 
is  necessary  on  the  part  of  the  person  who  is  "  tickled," 
for,  although  an  unwilling  subject  may  be  thus  made  to 
laugh,  yet  there  are  conditions  of  mind  and  of  body  in  which 
"  tickling "  produces  no  response.  I  do  not  propose  to 
discuss  why  it  is  that  "  tickling,"  or  gentle  friction  of  the  skin 
produces  laughter.  It  is  probably  one  of  those  cases  in 
which  a  mechanism  of  the  living  body  is  set  to  work,  as  a 
machine  may  be,  by  directly  causing  the  final  movement 
(say  the  turning  of  a  wheel),  for  the  production  of  which  a 
special  train  of  apparatus,  to  be  started  by  the  letting  loose 
of  a  spring  or  the  turning  of  a  steam-cock,  is  provided,  and 
in  ordinary  circumstance  is  the  regular  mode  in  which  the 
working  of  the  mechanism  is  started.  The  apparatus  of 
laughter  is  when  due  to  "  tickling  "  set  at  work  by  a  short 
cut  to  the  nerves  and  related  muscles  without  recourse  to 
the  normal  emotional  steam-cock. 

Then  we  have  laughter  which  is  purely  due  to  imita- 
tion and  suggestion.  People  laugh  because  others  are 
laughing,  without  knowing  why.  This  throws  a  good  deal 
of  light  on  the  significance  of  laughter.  It  is  essentially  a 


VARIETIES    OF    LAUGHTER  207 

social  appeal  and  response.  Only  in  rare  cases  do  people 
laugh  when  they  are  alone.  Under  conditions  which  in 
the  presence  of  others  would  cause  them  to  laugh  they  only 
"  chuckle  "  or  smile,  and  may,  though  ready  to  burst  into 
laughter,  not  even  exhibit  its  minor  expressions  when  alone. 
On  the  other  hand,  some  sane  people  have  the  habit  of 
laughing  aloud  when  alone,  and  there  is  a  recognised  form 
of  idiocy  which  is  accompanied  by  incessant  laughter, 
ceasing  only  with  sleep.  Then  there  is  that  peculiar  con- 
dition of  laughter  which  is  called"  giggling,"  which  is  laughter 
asserting  itself  in  spite  of  efforts  made  to  restrain  it,  and 
frequently  only  because  the  occasion  is  one  when  the 
"  giggler  "  is  especially  anxious  not  to  laugh.  This  kind 
of  "inverted  suggestion,"  as  in  the  case  where  an  individual 
"  blurts  out  "  the  very  word  or  phrase  which  he  is  anxious 
not  to  use,  is  obviously  not  primitive,  but  connected  with 
the  long  training  and  drilling  of  mankind  into  approved 
"  behaviour  "  by"  taboos  "and  restrictive  injunctions.  Efforts 
to  behave  correctly,  by  causing  anxiety  and  mental  dis- 
turbance in  excitable  or  so-called  "  nervous  "  subjects,  lead 
to  an  overmastering  impulse  to  do  the  very  thing  which 
must  not  be  done  ! 

It  seems  that  laughter  has  its  origin  far  back  in  the 
animal  ancestry  of  man,  and  is  essentially  an  expression 
to  others  of  the  joy  and  exhilaration  felt  by  the  laugher. 
It  is  an  appeal  through  the  eye  and  ear  for  sympathy  and 
comradeship  in  enjoyment.  Its  use  to  social  animals  is  in 
the  binding  together  of  the  members  of  a  group  or  society 
in  common  feeling  and  action.  Many  monkeys  laugh, 
some  of  them  grinning  so  as  to  show  the  teeth,  partly 
opening  the  mouth  and  making  sounds  by  spasmodic 
breathing,  identical  with  those  made  by  man.  I  have  seen 
and  heard  the  chimpanzees  at  the  Zoological  Gardens 
laugh  like  children  at  the  approach  of  their  friend  and  my 
friend,  the  distinguished  naturalist  Mr.  George  Boulenger, 


208  LAUGHTER 

F.R.S.,  recognising  him  among  the  crowd  in  front  of  their 
cage  when  he  was  still  far  off.  And  I  have  often  made 
chimpanzees  laugh — "  roar  with  laughter,"  and  roll  over 
in  excitement — by  tickling  them  under  the  arms.  The 
saying  of  Aristotle  (inscribed  over  the  curtain  of  the  Palais 
Royal  Theatre  in  Paris)  that  "laughter  is  better  than  tears, 
because  laughter  is  the  speciality  of  man,"  is  not  true.  Not 
only  do  the  higher  apes  and  some  of  the  smaller  monkeys 
laugh,  but  dogs  also  laugh,  although  they  do  not  make 
sounds  whilst  indulging  in  "spasms  of  laughter."  But  their 
distant  cousin,  the  hyena,  does  laugh  aloud,  and  its  laugh- 
ter agrees  with  that  of  the  dog  and  with  the  laughter  of 
children  and  grown  men  in  simpler  moods  in  that  it  is 
caused  by  the  pleasurable  emotion  set  up  by  the  imminent 
gratification  of  a  healthy  desire.  The  hyena  laughs,  the 
dog  grins  and  bounds,  the  child  laughs  and  jumps  for  joy 
at  the  approach  of  something  good  to  eat.  But  it  is  a 
curious  fact  that  the  whole  attitude  is  changed  when  the 
food  is  within  reach,  and  the  serious  business  of  consuming 
it  has  commenced!  Nor,  indeed,  is  the  satisfaction  which 
is  felt  after  the  gratification  of  appetite  accompanied  by 
laughter.  It  seems  that  the  display  of  the  teeth  by  drawing 
back  the  corners  of  the  mouth,  which  is  called  a  "grin," 
and  is  associated  in  many  dogs  with  short,  sharp,  demon- 
strative barks,  and  in  mankind  with  the  cackle  we  call  a 
"laugh,"  is  a  retention,  a  survival,  of  the  playful,  good- 
natured  movement  of  gently  biting  or  pulling  a  companion 
with  the  teeth  used  by  our  animal  ancestors  to  draw 
attention  to  their  joy  and  to  communicate  it  to  others. 
Gradually  it  has  lost  the  actual  character  of  a  friendly  bite; 
the  fore-feet  or  hands  pull  instead  of  the  teeth ;  the  sound 
emitted  has  become  further  differentiated  from  other 
sounds  made  by  the  animal.  But  the  movement  for  the 
display  of  the  teeth,  though  no  longer  needed  as  a  part  of 
the  act  of  gripping,  remains  as  an  understood  and  universal 


THE    LAUGH    OF    ESCAPE    FROM    DEATH    209 

indication  of  joy  and  kindly  feeling.  So  universal  is  it 
that  this  friendly  display  of  the  teeth  under  the  name 
"  smile  "  is  attributed  to  Nature,  to  Fortune,  and  to  deities 
by  all  races  of  men  when  those  powers  seem  to  favour 
them. 

Laughter  is,  then,  in  its  essence  and  origin,  a  communica- 
tion or  expression  to  others  of  the  joyous  mood  of  the 
laugher,  There  are  many  and  strangely  varied  occasions 
when  laughter  seizes  on  man,  and  it  is  interesting  to 
see  how  far  they  can  be  explained  by  this  conception  of 
the  primary  and  essential  nature  of  the  laugh,  for  many  of 
them  seem  at  first  sight  remote  from  it.  There  is,  first 
of  all,  the  laughter  of  revivification  and  escape  from  death 
or  danger.  After  railway  accidents,  earthquakes,  and 
such  terrible  occurrences,  those  who  have  been  in  great 
danger  often  burst  into  laughter.  The  nervous  balance 
has  been  upset  by  the  shock  (we  call  them  "shocking 
accidents  "),  and  the  emotional  joy  of  escape,  the  joy  of 
recovered  life,  asserts  itself  in  what  appears  to  the  onlooker 
to  be  an  unseemly,  an  unfeeling  laugh.  It  is  recorded 
that  one  of  the  entombed  French  coal  miners,  who  two 
years  ago  were  imprisoned  without  food  or  light  for 
twenty  days  a  thousand  feet  below  in  the  bowels  of  the 
earth,  burst  into  a  ghastly  laugh  when  he  was  rescued 
and  brought  to  the  upper  air  once  more.  The  Greeks 
and  Romans  in  some  of  their  festal  ceremonies  made  the 
priest  or  actor  who  represented  dead  nature  returning  to 
life  in  the  spring,  burst  into  a  laugh — a  ceremonial  or 
"  ritual  "  laugh.  Our  poets  speak  of  the  smiles,  and  even 
of  the  laughter  of  spring,  and  that  is  why  laughter  is 
appropriate  to  New  Year's  Day.  It  is  the  laughter  of 
escape  from  the  death  of  winter  and  of  return  to  life,  for 
the  true  and  old-established  New  Year's  Day  was  not  in 
mid-winter,  but  a  quarter  of  a  year  later,  when  buds  and 
flowers  are  bursting  into  life.  It  is  recorded  by  ancient 

14 


2io  LAUGHTER 

writers  that  the  "  ritual  laugh "  was  enforced  by  the 
Sardinians  and  others  who  habitually  killed  their  old  people 
(their  parents),  upon  their  victims.  They  smiled  and 
laughed  as  part  of  the  ceremony,  the  executioners  also 
smiling.  The  old  people  were  supposed  to  laugh  with  joy 
at  the  revivification  which  was  in  store  for  them  in  a 
future  state.  So,  too,  the  Hindoo  widows  used  to  laugh 
when  seated  on  the  funeral  pyre  ready  to  be  burnt.  So, 
too,  is  explained  (by  Reinach)  the  laughter  of  Joan  of  Arc 
when  she  made  her  abjuration  in  front  of  the  faggots 
which  were  to  burn  her  to  death.  Her  laugh  was  caused 
by  the  thought  of  her  escape  from  persecution  and  of  the 
joyful  resurrection  soon  to  come.  It  was  not  an  indication 
that  she  was  not  serious,  and  that  her  abjuration  of  witch- 
craft was  a  farce,  as  her  enemies  asserted. 

More  difficult  to  explain  is  the  laughter  excited  by 
scenes  or  narrations  which  we  call  ludicrous,  funny, 
grotesque,  comic  ;  and  still  more  so  the  derisive  and  con- 
temptuous laugh.  Caricature  or  burlesque  of  well-known 
men  is  a  favourite  method  of  producing  laughter  among 
savages  as  well  as  civilised  peoples.  Why  do  we  laugh 
when  a  man  on  the  stage  searches  everywhere  for  his  hat, 
which  is  all  the  time  on  his  head  ?  Why  do  we  laugh 
when  a  pompous  gentleman  slips  on  a  piece  of  orange- 
peel  and  falls  to  the  ground,  or  when  one  buffoon  unex- 
pectedly hits  another  on  the  head,  and,  before  he  has  had 
time  to  recover,  with  equal  unexpectedness  hooks  his  legs 
with  a  stick  and  brings  him  heavily  to  the  ground  ?  Why 
did  we  laugh  at  the  adventures  of  Mr.  Penley  in  "Charley's 
Aunt"?  In  all  of  these  "ludicrous"  affairs  there  is  an 
element  of  surprise,  a  slight  shock  which  puts  us  off  our 
mental  balance,  and  the  subsequent  laughter,  when  we 
realise  either  that  no  serious  harm  has  been  done  or  that 
the  whole  thing  is  make-believe,  seems  to  partake  of  the 
character  of  the  "  laugh  of  escape."  It  is  caused  by  a 


THE    LAUGH    OF    DERISION  211 

sense  of  relief  when  we  recognise  that  the  disaster  is  not 
real.  We  laugh  at  the  "  unreal  "  when  we  should  be  filled 
with  horror  and  grief  were  we  assured  that  there  was  real 
pain  and  cruelty  going  on  in  front  of  us.  The  laughter 
caused  by  grotesque  mimicry  or  caricature  of  pompous  or 
solemn  individuals  seems  to.  arise  from  the  same  (more  or 
less  unconscious)  working  of  the  mind  as  that  caused  by 
some  unexpected  neglect  of  those  social  "  taboos  "  or  laws 
of  behaviour  which  we  call  modesty,  decency,  and  propriety. 
They  either  cause  indignation  and  resentment  in  the 
on-looker  at  the  neglect  of  respect  for  the  taboo,  or,  on  the 
contrary,  the  natural  man,  long  oppressed  by  pomposity 
or  by  the  fetters  of  propriety  imposed  by  society,  suddenly 
feels  a  joyous  sense  of  escape  from  his  bonds,  and  bursts 
into  laughter — the  laughter  of  a  return  to  vitality  and 
nature — which  is  enormously  encouraged  and  developed 
into  "  roars  of  merriment  "  by  the  sympathy  of  others 
around  him  who  are  experiencing  the  same  emotion  and 
expressing  it  in  the  same  way. 

The  laugh  of  derision  and  contempt  and  the  laugh  of 
exultation  and  triumph  are  of  a  different  character.  I 
cannot  now  discuss  them  further  than  to  say  that  they  are 
either  genuine  or  pretended  assertions  of  joy  in  one's  own 
superior  vitality  or  other  superiority.  The  "  sardonic 
smile  "  and  "  sardonic  laughter "  have  been  supposed  by 
some  learned  men  to  refer  to  the  smiles  of  the  ancient 
Sardinians  when  stoning  their  aged  parents.  But  they 
have  no  more  to  do  with  Sardinians  than  they  have  with 
sardines  or  sardonyx.  The  word  "  sardonic  "  is  related  to 
a  Greek  word  which  means  "  to  snarl,"  and  a  sardonic  grin 
is  merely  a  snarl.  In  it  the  teeth  are  shown  with 
malicious  intent,  and  not  as  they  are  in  the  benevolent 
appeal  of  true  laughter.  Mrs.  Grote,  the  wife  of  the  great 
historian  (who  was  herself  declared  by  a  French  wit  to 
furnish  the  explanation  of  the  word  "  grotesque  "),  wrote 


212  LAUGHTER 

of  "  Owen's  sugar-of-lead  smile  " — referring  to  the  great 
naturalist,  Richard  Owen.  There  was  no  malice  in  the 
description,  for  he  had,  as  some  others  have,  a  very  sweet 
smile,  accompanied  by  a  strangely  grave  and  disapproving 
glare  in  his  large  blue  prominent  eyes.  It  was  only 
apparently  sugar  of  lead  ;  really,  it  was  sugar  of  milk— 
the  milk  of  human  kindness.  The  smile  of  the  lost 
picture  called  "  La  Gioconda  "  is  by  fanciful  people  regar- 
ded as  something  very  wonderful.  It  is  really  the  clever 
portraiture  of  the  habitual  "  leer  "  of  a  somewhat  wearied 
sensual  woman.  It  had  a  fascination  for  the  great 
Leonardo,  but  no  profound  significance. 


CHAPTER    XVI 

FATHERLESS   FROGS 

ONE  of  the  most  interesting  discoveries  of  recent  date 
in  regard  to  the  processes  which  go  on  in  that  all- 
important  material — protoplasm — which  is  the  physical 
basis  of  life  and  the  essential  constituent  of  "cells" — those 
minute  corpuscles  of  which  all  living  bodies  are  built — was 
made  in  1910  by  a  French  naturalist,  M.  Bataillon,  and 
has  been  examined  and  confirmed  by  another  French 
biologist,  M.  Henneguy.  To  explain  this  discovery,  a  few 
words  as  to  well-known  facts  are  necessary.  It  is  well 
known  that  if  we  isolate  a  female  frog  at  the  egg-laying 
season  and  let  her  swim  in  perfectly  pure  filtered  water, 
and  proceed  to  deposit  some  of  her  eggs  in  that  water,  the 
eggs  will  not  germinate;  they  remain  unchanged  for  a  time 
and  then  decompose — become,  in  fact,  "  rotten."  It  is  a 
matter  of  common  knowledge  that  it  is  necessary  for  the 
eggs  to  be  "fertilised"  in  order  that  they  may  start  on  that 
series  of  changes  and  growth  which  we  call  "development," 
and  become  tadpoles  and  eventually  young  frogs.  The 
"  fertilisation  "  of  the  frog's  eggs  is  effected  in  ordinary 
conditions  by  the  presence  in  the  water  of  the  pond,  into 
which  the  female  sheds  them,  of  microscopic  sperm-filaments 
(often  called  spermatozoa,  or  simply  "  sperms  ")  which  are 
shed  into  the  water  at  the  same  time  by  the  male  frog. 
The  egg  (the  blackish-brown  spherical  body,  as  big  as  a 


214  FATHERLESS    FROGS 

rape-seed,  which  is  imbedded  in  a  thin  jelly,  and  is  familiar 
to  those  who  are  drawn  by  curiosity  to  look  into  the  waters 
of  wayside  ponds  in  spring)  is  a  single  cell  or  corpuscle  of 
protoplasm  distended  with  dark-coloured  and  other  granules 
of  nutrient  substance.  A  single  sperm  (though  requiring 
the  microscope  to  render  it  visible)  is  also  a  single  cell. 
It  is  a  minute  oval  body,  with  a  long  serpentine  tail  of 
actively  undulating  protoplasm.  Hundred  of  thousands 
of  these  are  shed  into  the  water  at  the  breeding  season  by 
the  male  frog.  One  is  enough  to  fertilise  the  egg.  The 
sperm-cells  swim  in  the  water,  and  are  chemically  attracted 
by  the  eggs.  As  there  are  so  many  sperms,  one  of  them  is 
sure  to  reach  each  black  egg-sphere.  It  drives  its  way  into 
the  substance  of  the  egg,  making  a  minute  hole  in  its 
surface  ;  then  the  protoplasm  of  the  sperm  fuses  with  the 
protoplasm  of  the  egg,  and  becomes  intimately  mixed  with 
it.  The  egg-cell  has  a  "  nucleus,"  that  dense,  peculiar, 
deep-lying,  and  well-marked  "  kernel "  of  its  protoplasm 
which  all  cells  have.  It  is  of  essential  importance  in  the 
life  and  activity  of  the  cell.  The  sperm-cell  has  also  a 
"  nucleus,"  and  now  (as  has  been  carefully  asertained)  the 
nucleus  of  the  sperm  and  the  nucleus  of  the  egg-cell  unite 
and  form  one  single  nucleus.  The  egg  is  thereupon  said 
to  be  "  fertilised" — that  is  to  say,  "rendered  fertile."  It 
at  once  commences  to  move.  Its  surface  ripples  and 
contracts  and  nips  in  deeply,  so  that  the  sphere  is  marked 
out  into  two  hemispheres.  These  are  two  "  cells,"  or 
masses  of  protoplasm,  adhering  to  each  other.  Each  is 
provided  with  its  own  distinct  nucleus  or  cell-kernel,  for 
the  first  step  in  the  division  of  the  egg-sphere  is  the 
division  within  it  of  its  newly  constituted  nucleus  into  two, 
each  half  consisting  of  nearly  equal  proportions  of  the 
mingled  substance  of  the  sperm-nucleus  and  the  egg- 
nucleus.  The  two  first  cells  or  hemispheres  again  divide, 
and  so  the  process  goes  on  until  the  little  black  egg  has 


FERTILISATION    OF    THE    EGG-CELL      215 

the  appearance  of  a  mulberry,  each  granule  of  the  berry 
being  a  cell  provided  with  its  own  nucleus  derived  from 
the  original  nucleus  formed  by  the  fusion  of  the  nuclei  of 
the  paternal  and  maternal  cells.  In  the  course  of  a  day 
or  two  the  division  has  proceeded  so  far  that  the  resulting 
"  cells  "  are  so  small  as  to  be  invisible  with  a  hand-glass, 
and  require  one  to  use  a  high  magnifying  power  in  order 
to  distinguish  them.  And  there  are  hundreds  of  them  ; 
the  whole  mass  of  the  "  egg  "  within,  as  well  as  on  the 
surface,  has  divided  into  separate  cells.  They  go  on 
multiplying,  take  up  water,  and  nourish  themselves  on  the 
granular  nutritive  matter  present  from  the  first  in  the  egg- 
cell.  The  little  mass  elongates,  increases  in  size,  and 
gradually  assumes  the  form  of  a  young  tadpole. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  process  of  fertilisation  consists  in 
two  things,  the  latter  of  which  necessitates  the  former,  viz.  in 
the  breaking  or  penetration  of  the  surface  of  the  egg-cell  by 
the  active  sperm  filament,  and  second,  in  the  fusion  of  the 
substance  of  the  sperm-filament  with  that  of  the  egg  in 
such  a  way  that  there  is  a  distinct  and  intimate  fusion  of 
the  nucleus  of  the  sperm  filament  with  the  nucleus  of  the 
egg-cell.  The  recent  discovery  of  M.  Bataillon  is  this,  viz. 
that  you  can  make  the  frog's  egg  develop  in  a  perfectly 
regular  way  and  become  a  tadpole  and  then  a  young  frog 
without  the  admission  to  it  of  a  sperm-filament  or  of  any 
substance  derived  from  the  male  frog.  All  you  have  to 
do — and  the  operation,  though  it  sounds  easy  and  simple, 
is  an  exceedingly  delicate  and  difficult  one — is  to  prick 
with  a  fine  needle  the  surface  of  the  little  black  egg-sphere 
(not  merely  of  the  jelly  surrounding  it)  when  it  is  shed  by 
the  female  frog  into  perfectly  pure  water  free  from  sperms 
or  anything  of  the  sort.  The  slight  artificial  puncture 
acts  as  does  the  natural  puncture  by  the  swimming  sperm- 
filament,  and  is  sufficient  !  The  egg  proceeds  to  develop 
quite  regularly.  There  is  no  fusion  of  the  nucleus  of  the 


2i6  FATHERLESS    FROGS 

egg-cell  with  any  matter  from  the  outside  ;  no  paternal 
"  material  "  is  introduced,  but  the  nucleus  of  the  egg-cell 
divides  just  as  though  there  had  been  !  The  whole 
progeny  of  cells,  successively  formed,  are  the  pure  offspring 
of  the  maternal  egg-cell  and  its  nucleus.  The  tadpoles 
and  young  frogs  so  produced  are  examples  of  what  is 
called  "  parthenogenesis  " — that  is  to  say,  virginal  reproduc- 
tion— reproduction  without  fertilisation  by  material  derived 
from  a  male  parent !  The  needle,  which  gives  off  no 
material,  but  simply  makes  a  tiny  break  in  the  surface  of 
the  egg,  does  all  that  is  necessary  ! 

To  those  not  acquainted  with  all  that  has  been  ascer- 
tained as  to  the  reproduction  of  lower  animals,  such  as 
insects,  crustaceans,  and  worms,  this  discovery  will  appear 
more  astonishing  than  it  really  is.  We  know  of  many 
lower  animals  in  which  the  egg-cells  produced  by  the 
females  do  regularly  and  naturally  develop  without  the 
intervention  of  a  male  and  without  fertilisation.  In  an 
earlier  volume^  of  this  "  Easy  Chair  Series  "  I  wrote  of 
this  curious  subject,  and  described  the  virgin  reproduction 
or  parthenogenesis  of  the  hop-louse  and  other  plant  lice, 
of  some  moths,  of  some  fresh-water  shrimps,  and  of  the 
queen  bee  (who  produces  only  drones  by  eggs  which  are 
not  fertilised).  But  I  had  to  point  out  then  that  no  case 
was  known  of  "  parthenogenesis  "-—that  is  to  say,  repro- 
duction by  unfertilised  eggs — among  the  whole  series  of 
vertebrate  animals,  the  fishes,  amphibians,  reptiles,  birds, 
and  mammals.  The  chief  point  of  novelty  in  M.  Bataillon's 
discovery  is  that  we  have  now  an  experimental  demon- 
stration of  parthenogenesis  in  a  vertebrate  animal,  and  in 
one  so  highly  organised  as  the  frog.  And  equally  in- 
teresting, indeed  more  important  from  the  point  of  view 
as  to  the  real  meaning  and  nature  of  fertilisation,  is  the 
mode  in  which  the  parthenogenesis  of  the  frog  is  set 

*     Science  from  an  Easy  Chair,'  Methuen  &  Co.,  1910. 


EGG  CELLS    DEVELOPING   UNFERTILISED  217 

going,  namely,  by  a  mere  prick  of  the  surface  film  of  the 
ripe  egg  ! 

There  have,  however,  been  important  experiments  on 
the  subject  of  the  development  of  eggs  without  fertilisa- 
tion in  recent  years,  prior  to  these  discoveries  as  to  the  frog's 
egg.  A  favourite  subject  for  such  inquiries  is  the  sea 
urchin  (Echinus  of  different  kinds).  The  female  sea 
urchin,  or  sea  egg,  like  its  close  allies  the  star  fishes,  lays 
a  great  number  of  very  transparent  minute  eggs  (each 
about  the  -g-Jirth  °f  an  mcn  'm  diameter)  in  sea-water,  and 
they  are  there  fertilised  by  the  mobile  sperm-filaments 
discharged  by  the  males.  The  eggs  are  so  transparent 
and  so  easily  kept  alive  in  jars  of  sea- water  that  there  is 
no  difficulty  in  watching  under  the  microscope  the  pene- 
tration of  the  egg  by  a  sperm,  and  the  fusion  and  other 
changes  in  the  nuclei.  Delages  of  Paris,  and  Loeb  of 
California,  have  made  valuable  studies  on  these  eggs. 
Loeb  has  shown  that  they  may  be  artificially  started  on 
the  course  of  development  and  cell  division  without  fertili- 
sation— simply  by  the  action  of  minute  quantities  of 
simple  chemicals  (fatty  acids,  etc.)  introduced  into  the  sea- 
water  by  the  experimenter.  These  chemicals  appear  to 
act  on  the  delicate  pellicle  which  forms  the  surface  of  the 
egg-cell  in  much  the  same  way  as  the  prick  of  a  needle 
acts  on  a  frog's  egg.  A  limited  and  delicately  adjusted 
disturbance  of  the  cohesion  (or  of  the  surface-tension)  of 
the  egg-cell  seems  to  be  all  that  is  necessary  for  starting 
the  egg-cell  on  its  career  of  development.  It  becomes,  in 
the  light  of  these  experiments,  not  so  much  a  wonder  that 
egg-cells  should  develop  "  on  their  own,"  but  that  they  do 
not  more  frequently  do  so.  It  must  be  remembered  that 
the  "  germination  "  and  development  of  unfertilised  eggs, 
even  when  the  whole  range  of  animals  and  plants  is  taken 
into  account  (for  plants  also  are  reproduced  by  single  cells 
identical  in  character  with  the  egg-cells  and  sperm-cells 


21.8  FATHERLESS    FROGS 

of  animals),  that  is  to  say,  the  existence  of  "  partheno- 
genesis "  as  a  natural,  regularly  recurring  process,  is  excep- 
tional.     We  must  distinguish  cases  in  which  it  regularly 
occurs  as  part  of  the  life-history  of  an  animal  or  plant 
from  cases  in  which  it  has  been  successfully  brought  about 
by  experimental  "  artificial  "  methods  designed  by  man. 
The  plant-lice  "  naturally  "  reproduce  through  the  summer 
by  unfertilised  eggs  producing  only  females,  but  in  the 
first  cold  of  autumn  males  are  hatched  from  some  of  the 
eggs,  and   the  eggs  of  this  generation  are  fertilised  and 
bide  through  the  winter,  hatching  in  the  following  spring. 
Some  few  moths  and  flies  also  reproduce  naturally  during 
summer  by  unfertilised  eggs,  and  the  brine-shrimps  and 
some    other    fresh-water    shrimps    produce    "  fatherless " 
broods  from  their  eggs,  sometimes  for  years  in  succession, 
until  "  one  fine  day "  some  males  are  hatched,  owing  to 
what  causes  we  do  not  know.     The  queen  bee  naturally 
and  regularly  lays  a  certain  number  of  unfertilised  eggs, 
and  these  produce,  not  females  as  do  the  unfertilised  eggs 
of  plant-lice,  etc.,  but  male  bees — the  drones — and  it  is 
only  from  such  eggs  that  the  drones  of  bees  are  born. 
These  are  the  chief  cases  of  regular  and  natural  partheno- 
genesis, but  there  are  others  which  might  be  enumerated. 
On   the   other   hand,   examples   of  artificially   induced 
development    of  eggs,   not  fertilised,  are  very  few.      The 
first  known  came  accidentally  to  notice.    Female  silk-worm 
moths   reared   in    confinement   sometimes   lay  eggs  when 
kept  apart  from  the  male,  and  these  have  been  found  to 
hatch,  and  give  rise  to  caterpillars,  which  were  not  reared 
to  maturity.      Other  moths  bred   by  collectors  behaved  in 
the  same  way,  but  the  grubs  were  reared  to  maturity,  and 
three  successive  generations  of  "  fatherless "   moths  were 
obtained.      In  these  cases  the  hatching  of  unfertilised  eggs 
is  not   known  to  occur  in  a  state  of  nature,  although   it 
probably  occurs  occasionally.      It  has  also  been  observed 


M.    BATAILLON'S    DISCOVERY  219 

— an  important  fact  when  considered  with  the  history  of 
the  frog's  egg  and  the  needle — that  "  brushing "  the 
unfertilised  eggs  of  the  silkworm  and  other  moths,  that  is 
to  say,  gently  polishing  the  little  egg-shells  with  a  soft 
camel's-hair  brush,  has  the  effect  of  starting  development. 
Taking  two  lots  of  unfertilised  eggs  adhering  to  slips  of 
paper,  as  laid  by  the  mother  moth,  it  is  found  that  those 
gently  brushed  will  hatch,  whilst  those  not  brushed  will 
either  not  hatch  at  all,  or  in  very  small  number.  The 
brushing  seems  to  disturb  the  equilibrium  of  the  proto- 
plasmic egg-cell  within  the  egg-shell  just  sufficiently  to 
set  it  going — going  on  its  course  of  division  and  develop- 
ment. The  only  other  case  of  "  artificially-induced 
parthenogenesis "  at  present  recorded  is  that  of  the 
common  frog,  due  to  M.  Bataillon.  There  are  questions 
of  great  interest  still  to  be  made  out  as  the  result  of  his 
discovery.  Can  the  fatherless  brood  be  reared  to  maturity 
and  again  made  to  yield  a  fatherless  generation  ?  What 
is  the  precise  structure  of  the  nuclei  of  the  cells  which 
originate  from  the  nucleus  of  the  egg-cell  only,  and  not 
from  a  nucleus  formed  by  the  fusion  of  that  with  a  sperm- 
cell  nucleus  ?  These  and  similar  questions  are  the  motive 
of  further  careful  study  now  in  progress* 

The  important  conclusion  is  forced  upon  us  by  these 
experiments  with  a  needle,  that  even  in  so  typical  and 
highly  organised  a  creature  as  one  of  the  higher  or  five- 
fingered,  air-breathing  vertebrates,  the  egg-cell  does  not 
require  any  material  admixture  from  the  sperm-cell  in 
order  that  it  may  successfully  germinate  and  develop,  but 
only  a  disturbance  of  equilibrium,  which  can  be  admini- 
stered as  well  by  a  needle's  point  as  by  a  sperm-filament ! 
Yet  the  whole  process  of  sexual  reproduction  undoubtedly 
has,  as  its  origin  and  explanation,  the  fusion  in  the  first 
cell  of  the  new  generation  from  which  all  the  rest  will 
arise,  of  the  material  of  two  distinct  individuals.  Thus 


220  FATHERLESS    FROGS 

the  qualities  of  the  young  are  not  a  repetition  of  the 
qualities  of  one  parent,  nor  are  they  a  mere  mixture  of 
the  qualities  of  both  parents  (for  contradictory  qualities 
cannot  mix).  They  are  a  new  grouping  of  qualities  com- 
prising some  of  the  one  parent  and  some  of  the  other, 
and  hence  a  great  opportunity  for  variation,  for  departure 
from  either  parent's  exact  "make-up,"  is  afforded,  and  for 
the  selection  and  survival  of  the  new  combination.  It  is, 
it  would  seem,  only  in  exceptional  cases  and  for  limited 
periods  that  uni-sexual  or  fatherless  reproduction  can  be 
advantageous  to  a  species  of  plant  or  animal.  Such  cases 
are  those  in  which  abundant  food,  present  for  a  limited 
season,  renders  the  most  rapid  multiplication  of  individuals 
an  advantage  to  the  species.  But  after  this  exceptional 
abundance  has  come  to  an  end,  the  more  usual  process  of 
reproduction  by  fertilised  eggs  (also  necessary  and  advan- 
tageous for  the  preservation  of  the  race  by  "natural  selection 
in  the  struggle  for  existence "  of  the  new  varieties  so 
produced)  is  resumed  until  again  the  abundant  food  is 
present,  as  in  the  annual  history  of  plant  lice  and  the 
plants  on  which  they  feed. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

PRIMITIVE     BELIEFS     ABOUT    FATHERLESS 
PROGENY 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  I  related  the  curious  and 
exceptional  cases  of  "  fatherless  reproduction "  by 
means  of  true  egg-cells,  those  cells  of  special  nature  pro- 
duced in  the  organs  called  "ovaries,"  present  in  all  but 
the  simplest  animals  and  plants.  These  egg-cells  are 
usually,  with  elaborate  sureness  and  precise  mechanism 
after  liberation  from  the  ovary,  fertilised  by  (that  is  to 
say,  fused  with)  the  complemental  reproductive  cells — the 
sperm-filaments — produced  by  other  individuals,  the  males. 
But  we  must  not  forget — and,  indeed,  one  should  not 
enter  on  the  consideration  of  this  subject  without  a  know- 
ledge of  the  fact — that  vast  numbers  of  animals  and  plants 
reproduce  themselves  "  asexually,"  as  it  is  termed,  namely, 
by  breaking-off  or  separating  buds,  branches,  or  other 
good  solid  bits  of  their  structure  which,  when  thus  separa- 
rated,  are  capable  of  individual  life  and  growth.  Thus 
plants  very  largely  multiply,  using  this  method  in  addition 
to  the  sexual  method  of  egg-cells  and  sperm-cells.  One 
may  take  "  cuttings "  from  plants  and  rear  them,  and 
plants  also  "  cut  "  or  detach  such  bits  themselves,  in  the 
form  of  runners,  of  dividing  bulbs,  of  bulbules,  and  such 
reproductive  growths  seen  on  the  lily,  on  the  viviparous, 
alpine  grass,  and  many  other  plants.  Even  a  bit  cut  off 
from  the  leaf  of  a  plant  (for  instance,  a  begonia)  will 


222  SOME    PRIMITIVE    BELIEFS 

sprout,  root  itself,  and  grow  into  a  completely  formed  and 
healthy  individual.  Animals,  too,  such  as  polyps  or 
zoophytes,  and  many  beautiful  and  elaborate  worms, 
multiply  by  "  fission,"  dividing  into  two  or  more  parts, 
each  of  which  becomes  a  complete  animal.  This  process 
is  not  seen  in  any  fish,  amphibian,  reptile,  bird,  or  mammal, 
nor  in  molluscs,  nor  in  insects,  crustaceans,  myriapods,  and 
arachnids  (spiders  and  scorpions).  It  is  almost  wholly 
confined  to  lower  animals  (worms  and  polyps)  and  to 
plants,  and  hence  is  often  called  "  vegetative  reproduction." 
The  most  remarkable  case  of  its  appearance  among  higher 
forms  is  that  of  the  marine  ascidians,  or  tunicates* — close 
allies  of  the  true  vertebrates — where  reproduction  by 
budding  and  the  formation  of  wonderfully  elaborate  star- 
like  forms  produced  by  budding  and  the  cohesion  of  the 
budded  individuals  as  one  composite  individual  are  well- 
known.  Their  beautiful  shapes  and  colours  have  been 
reproduced  in  hundreds  of  exquisite  pictures  by  our  great 
artist-naturalists.  We  thus  have  to  recognise  that  there 
are  two  distinct  kinds  of  reproduction  in  living  things. 
One  is  "  asexual,"  by  means  of  division  or  separation  of 
large  or  special  masses  of  their  substance,  made  up  of 
ordinary  tissue  cells.  Co-existing  with  this,  often  in  the 
same  individuals,  is  the  other  method,  the  "  sexual,"  by 
means  of  detached  egg-cells  and  sperm-cells  which  are 
thrown  off  from  the  parents,  and  do  not  (except  in  rare 
instances)  proceed  to  develop  unless  the  egg-cell  is  "  fer- 
tilised "  by  the  fusion  with  it  of  a  sperm-cell. 

The  whole  subject  of  the  reproduction  of  animals  and 
plants  was,  until  the  introduction  of  the  microscope, 
involved  in  obscurity  and  mystery.  The  Greeks  and 
Romans  had  necessarily  very  imperfect  and  erroneous 
notions  on  the  subject,  and  it  was  not  until  300 
years  ago  that  William  Harvey,  the  discoverer  of  the 
*  See  p.  276  for  some  account  of  the  Tunicates  or  Ascidians. 


HARVEY    AND    MILTON  223 

circulation  of  the  blood,  declared,  as  a  general  law,  that 
every  living  thing  is  born  from  an  egg.  During  that  300 
years  his  conclusion  has  been  examined  and  modified, 
corrected  and  expanded,  and  the  microscope  has  at  last 
enabled  us  to  see  and  follow  the  excessively  minute 
particles  and  structures  by  which  sexual  reproduction  is 
effected.  Harvey's  dictum  was  a  step  in  advance  when  it 
was  made,  for  previously  the  belief  was  current  that  living 
things  were  "  bred  "  in  all  sorts  of  queer  ways.  It  was 
supposed  that  the  putrefying  flesh  of  a  dead  animal 
actually  was  converted  by  a  sudden  process  into  maggots, 
and  that  rotten  wood  would  breed,  out  of  its  own  sub- 
stance, ship's  barnacles  and  even  young  geese  and  mice — 
an  opinion  contested  only  200  years  ago  by  Sir  Thomas 
Browne  !  No  difficulty  was  felt  in  admitting  that  whole 
swarms  of  insects,  fishes,  and  even  herds  of  larger  beasts 
were  spontaneously  generated  from  mud,  from  putrid 
matter,  or  from  the  waters  of  the  sea.  That,  indeed,  was 
the  popular  notion  set  forth  by  the  poet,  John  Milton,  as 
to  the  mode  in  which  living  things  were  "  miraculously  " 
brought  into  existence  at  the  beginning  of  things  by  the 
"  fiat  "  of  the  Creator.  What  more  probable  than  that 
such  a  creation  should  still  be,  here  and  there,  at  work  ? 
However,  not  three  centuries  ago,  actual  experiment 
gradually  convinced  the  learned  that  maggots  are  bred  in 
a  dead  body  only  from  the  eggs  laid  by  parent  flies,  as 
shown  by  the  Italian  Redi  in  1668  who  found  that  no 
maggots  were  bred  when  he  simply  excluded  the  flies  from 
access  to  the  dead  body  by  covering  it  with  wire  gauze, 
but  that  the  blow-flies  swarmed  on  the  gauze  and  vainly 
laid  their  eggs  on  it  !  It  was  only  gradually  recognised 
that  birth  by  means  of  eggs  or  germs  extruded  from 
parental  organisms  of  the  same  history  and  character  as 
their  offspring  is  the  explanation  of  all  such  swarms  of 
flies,  worms,  and  even  mushrooms  and  moulds  as  had 


224 


SOME    PRIMITIVE    BELIEFS 


been  formerly  ascribed  to  a  mysterious  power  of  breeding 
these  organisms  possessed  by  inanimate  dirt  and  refuse. 

In  spite  of  this  progress  in  knowledge  the  belief  in 
"  spontaneous  generation  "  of  such  excessively  minute 
organisms  as  the  bacteria  and  yeasts  was  general  until 
Theodore  Schwann  in  1836  performed  with  them  just  the 
same  experiment  as  Redi  had  performed  with  blow-flies 
in  1668.  He  showed  that  if  a  putrescible  liquid  (for 
instance,  soup)  were  boiled  in  a  retort  so  as  to  destroy  all 
germs,  and  then  the  open  neck  of  the  retort  was  kept  heated 
in  a  flame,  so  that  no  floating  germs  could  enter  alive,  the 
soup  did  not  putrefy,  and  no  bacteria  or  other  organisms 
appeared  in  it.  The  old  notions,  nevertheless,  survive  to 
this  day.  Peasants,  fisher-folk,  and  even  uneducated 
wealthy  countrymen  cling  to  them  with  the  confidence 
arising  from  profound  ignorance.  And  occasionally  a 
man  of  some  scientific  training  and  knowledge  astonishes 
the  world  by  a  futile  attempt  to  show  that  the  old  fancies 
were  true  in  regard,  at  any  rate,  to  the  lowest  microscopic 
forms  of  life.  But  these  are  but  the  echoes  of  the  past  ; 
we  do  not  believe  nowadays  in  "  spontaneous  genera- 
tion," nor  in  sudden  transformations  of  lower  into  higher 
forms  of  life.  The  doctrine,  "  omme  vivum  e  vivo'1 — every 
living  thing  (in  the  present  condition  of  our  earth)  is  born 
from  a  living  thing — is  now  held  by  scientific  investigators 
as  a  reasonable  generalisation  of  experience. 

On  the  other  hand,  Harvey's  dictum,  "  Every  living 
thing  comes  from  an  egg,"  is  only  true  in  a  limited  sense, 
namely,  that  whilst  the  individual  among  most  larger 
animals  and  plants  is  always  traceable  to  an  egg-cell 
detached  from  a  parental  individual  of  a  like  kind  or 
species,  there  are  whole  groups  and  series  of  lower  animals 
and  most  plants  in  which  the  individual  born  or 
"  developed "  from  an  egg-cell  does  not  proceed  when 
grown  to  full  size  to  reproduce  in  turn  by  eggs  and  fer- 


REPRODUCTION    BY    BUDDING  225 

tilising  sperms,  but  divides  into  two  or  more  individuals 
or  gives  off  detached  buds  or  reproductive  bulbs,  which 
become  separate  individuals,  and  only  after  these  and 
several  successive  generations  of  individuals  have  been 
thus  produced  "  asexually,"  by  fission  or  by  budding, 
does  a  generation  appear  which  produces  true  egg-cells 
and  sperm-cells  and  reproduces  by  their  means.  Thus 
it  is  true  that  the  individuals  "  budded  off"  or  separated 
by  fission  from  an  asexual  parent  can  be  ultimately 
traced  through  one  or  more  generations  of  previous 
asexual  parents  to  an  egg-cell  produced  and  fertilised  in 
the  regular  way,  and  with  this  important  modification 
Harvey's  dictum  is  justified.  These  facts  and  the  wonderful 
histories  of  the  animals  and  plants  in  which  egg-and- 
sperm-producing  generations  "  alternate  "  with  generations 
which  multiply  by  fission  and  budding  have  only  been 
worked  out  in  detail  and  by  the  aid  of  the  microscope 
during  the  great  century  of  scientific  discovery  which  lies 
just  behind  us.  Often  the  two  generations,  reproducing, 
the  one  by  fission,  the  other  by  egg-  and  sperm-cells,  are 
alike  in  appearance,  but  often  they  are  very  different,  and 
have  naturally  been  supposed  at  first  to  have  nothing  to 
do  with  each  other. 

Thus  some  of  the  little  "  coralline  polyps  "  and  other 
most  beautiful  little  marine  flower-like  polyps  attached  to 
rocks,  weeds,  and  shells  in  the  sea  reproduce  by  budding 
and  division.  But  after  a  period  of  such  growth  and 
such  budding  they  produce  on  their  stalks — jelly-fish  ! 
These  jelly-fish  are  budded  and  thrown  off  by  them,  as 
glass-like  swimming  bells,  which  lead  an  independent  life, 
seize  prey,  nourish  themselves,  and  grow  to  a  size  varying 
from  that  of  a  sixpence  to  that  of  a  cart-wheel.  These 
"  bells  "  are  commonly  known  as  "  jelly-fish."  They  dis- 
charge thousands  of  egg-cells  into  the  sea  and  fertilise 
them  with  sperms  1  From  those  fertilised  eggs  grow  young 

15 


226  FATHERLESS    PROGENY 

polyps,  which  fix  themselves  to  rocks  or  weeds,  and  grow 
up  to  bud  and  multiply  by  fission,  and  eventually  to  pro- 
duce again  by  fission  a  generation  of  jelly-fishes  !  Such  a 
marvellous  history  of  alternating  modes  of  reproduction  has 
been  discovered, and  described  in  greatest  microscopic  detail 
and  with  most  ample  pictorial  representations  of  all  the 
minutest  structures  of  the  organisms  studied,  not  only  in 
many  marine  polyps,  but  also  in  the  case  of  many  para- 
sitic worms,  such  as  the  tape-worms  and  the  liver-flukes. 
Some  of  the  most  fascinating  cases,  on  account  of  the 
beauty  of  the  little  creatures  concerned,  are  found  amongst 
the  surface-swimming  Ascidians  of  the  sea — the  glass-like 
Salps  (see  p.  303).  But  our  common  ferns  and  mosses  also 
show  this  same  alternation  of  sexual  and  sexless  genera- 
tions, the  two  generations  differing  greatly  in  size,  form, 
and  structure  from  one  another,  whilst  the  whole  history 
of  "flowers"  and  their  structure  is  bound  up  with  a  wonder- 
ful "  telescoping  "  or  rolling  of  the  two  generations  (sexless 
and  sexual)  into  one  plant !  (See  Chapters  VII  and  VIII.) 
It  was  not  until  long  after  Harvey's  time  that  these 
things  were  understood,  and  there  was  every  excuse — in 
the  absence  of  observation  of  the  facts,  especially  those 
yet  to  be  revealed  by  the  microscope — for  the  erroneous 
suppositions  and  explanations  which  were  formerly  enter- 
tained as  to  the  mode  of  reproduction  of  the  less  familiar 
plants  and  animals.  If  we  go  back  to  the  starting-point 
of  European  science,  to  the  great  Aristotle,  we  find  that 
he  had  formed  singularly  correct  conclusions  as  to  the 
reproduction  of  the  larger  kinds  of  animals,  though  he 
knew  nothing  about  "  sperms,"  having  no  microscope,  and 
only  legarded  the  fluid  produced  by  male  animals  as 
exercising  a  fertilising  effect  on  the  eggs,  which  in  many 
instances  are  large  enough  for  anyone  to  see.  But,  of 
course,  he  could  not  have  any  knowledge  of  the  egg-cell, 
nor  does  he  say  anything  about  the  reproduction  of 


STORIES    OF    VIRGIN    BIRTHS  227 

plants.  Later,  however,  the  sexuality  of  flowering  plants 
was  taught  by  his  pupils,  and  at  the  time  of  the 
Roman  Empire  there  was  a  very  definite  belief  among 
learned  men  (such  as  Pliny)  that  the  larger  plants  and 
animals  reproduce  by  eggs  or  by  seeds  produced  by  the 
females  which  require  to  be  "  fertilised  "  by  a  product 
formed  in  the  males — the  spermatic  fluid  in  the  case  of 
animals  and  by  the  pollen  in  the  case  of  a  few  flowering 
plants  '(e.g.  the  date-palm).  But  there  was  no  idea  of 
holding  this  as  a  general  and  universal  law.  From  Pliny 
to  Harvey  and  later,  those  who  concerned  themselves  with 
natural  history  accepted  without  difficulty  any  strange 
accounts  or  appearances  as  to  the  reproduction  or  the 
sudden  production  in  fanciful  and  astonishing  ways  of 
the  lower  and  smaller  animals  and  plants.  They  did  not 
expect  these  inferior  creatures  to  have  the  same  methods 
of  reproduction  as  the  higher  and  bigger  creatures.  It  is 
only  now,  since  the  later  years  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
that  we  are  able  to  show  that  all  animals  and  plants,  even 
the  minutest  microscopic  kinds,  reproduce  by  the  formation 
and  separation  of  egg-cells,  and  that  these  egg-cells  are 
(in  all  but  a  few  exceptional  cases)  fertilised  by  sperm- 
cells,  which  are  smaller  than  the  egg-cells,  and  usually 
provided  with  active  swimming  filaments. 

Not  only  did  our  mediaeval  ancestors  believe  all  sorts 
of  fancies  as  to  the  propagation  of  lower  animals  and 
plants,  but  they  were  quite  prepared  to  accept  stories  as 
to  reproduction  in  the  case  of  higher  animals,  and  even  in 
mankind,  by  irregular  methods,  such  as  parthenogenesis, 
or  the  defect  of  an  ordinary  male  parent.  In  the  Middle 
Ages  in  Europe,  and  earlier  in  the  East,  the  belief  in  the 
frequent  occurrence  of  the  birth  of  a  child  which  had  no 
human  male  parent  was  common.  It  was,  so  to  speak,  an 
admitted  though  irregular  occurrence.  A  very  curious 
thing  is  that  when  such  cases  were  supposed  to  occur,  they 


228  FATHERLESS    PROGENY 

were  not  ascribed  to  any  natural  process  such  as  we  now 
recognise  in  the  "  parthenogenesis  "  of  insects  and  crus- 
taceans, but  to  the  visitation  of  the  mother  by  a  spirit — 
a  floating,  volatile  demon  or  angel  (known  as  an  "incubus" 
in  the  Middle  Ages) — beneficent  or  malicious  as  the  case 
might  be.  Stories  of  the  nocturnal  visits  of  these  mys- 
terious ghostly  "  incubi "  are  on  record  in  great  number 
and  variety,  both  in  European  and  Oriental  tradition  and 
legend.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  readiness  to  believe 
the  theory  of  paternity  from  among  the  hidden  world  of 
goblins,  fairies,  and  sprites  which  was  very  naturally  made 
use  of  by  a  woman  and  her  relatives  when  she  could  not 
produce  the  father  of  her  child. 

We  come  across  examples  of  such  beliefs  in  invisible 
agents  of  paternity  even  among  the  more  cultivated 
Romans.  Thus  Virgil  in  his  "  Georgics  "  cites  as  a  fact 
that  mares  are  fertilised  by  the  wind. 

It  is  now  known  that,  quite  apart  from  any  motive  of 
concealment  of  the  true  paternity  of  their  offspring,  some 
of  the  native  tribes  of  Australia  have  the  belief  that,  as  the 
regular  and  normal  thing,  children  are  begotten  by  strange 
fairy-like  spirits  which  haunt  the  rocks  and  trees  of  certain 
localities  and  enter  the  future  mother  as  she  passes  by 
these  haunted  rocks  and  trees.  These  Australian  "  black 
fellows  "  hold  that  the  human  father  counts  for  nothing  in 
the  matter.  The  belief  of  these  Australian  savages  is 
referred  to  by  writers  on  the  subject  (Mr.  Andrew  Lang 
and  others)  as  "  the  spiritual  theory  of  conception." 
There  are  some  reasons  for  thinking  that  this  curious 
theory  and  the  accompanying  ignorance  as  to  the  natural 
causes  of  conception  were  widely  spread  among  primeval 
men.  The  fact  that  most  trees  are  fertilised  by  the  wind 
(which  carries  to  their  female  flowers  the  invisible  powder, 
or  pollen,  of  the  male  flowers,  conveyed  in  the  case  of 
smaller  plants  which  have  gay-coloured  flowers  by  bees 


SPIRITUAL    THEORY    OF    CONCEPTION    229 

and  butterflies)  may  have  been  noticed  by  primitive  man, 
and  have  started  the  belief  that  there  are  fertilising  spirits 
or  demons  in  the  air.  However  the  fancy  arose,  it  is 
only  a  parallel  to  the  strange  fancies  as  to  spontaneous 
generation  of  all  sorts  of  animals  and  plants  current  200 
years  ago  among  civilised  men.  And,  further,  it  is  worth 
noting  that  the  uncanny  belief  in  the  "  incubus  "  which  was 
generally  prevalent  in  the  Middle  Ages  may  possibly  be 
considered  as  a  survival  in  (or  incursion  into)  Europe  of 
the  primitive  spiritual  theory  of  all  human  conception,  and 
of  the  fertilising  activity  of  the  haunting  spirits  of  the  air 
which  was  held  by  primeval  man,  and  is  still  found  in  full 
force  among  the  Arunta  tribes  of  Australia. 


CHAPTER    XVIII 
THE   PYGMY  RAGES  OF  MEN 

THE  tradition  of  the  existence  of  dwarfs,  not  as  isolated 
examples,  but  as  a  race  with  their  own  customs, 
government,  and  language  is  familiar  among  civilised  people, 
and  exists  among  scattered  and  remote  savages.  We  have 
all  heard  of  them  in  that  treasury  of  primitive  beliefs — the 
nursery.  Therefore,  the  fact  that  there  are  at  this  moment 
in  various  parts  of  the  world  dwarf  or  pygmy  tribes  of 
men,  living  in  proximity  to  but  apart  from  those  races 
which  have  a  stature  identical  with  our  own,  has  a  great 
fascination  and  interest.  Some  few  races  of  men  have  an 
average  height  of  an  inch,  or  thereabouts,  greater  than  that 
of  the  people  of  the  British  Islands,  whilst  some  are 
shorter  by  as  much  as  two  or  three  inches.  But,  on  the 
whole,  it  may  be  said  that,  putting  aside  the  pygmy  races, 
of  which  I  am  about  to  write,  mankind  generally  does  not 
show  a  very  striking  range  of  normal  stature — the  mass 
in  any  race  or  region  of  the  globe  varying  from  5ft.  4111. 
to  5ft.  8in.,  and  tending  to  the  higher  rather  than  the 
lower  figure. 

The  pygmy  races  are  sharply  separated  from  normal 
mankind  by  as  much  as  a  foot,  and  even  more,  in  average 
stature,  ranging  from  4ft.  to  something  less  than  4ft.  I  I  in.  in 
height.  They  are,  enumerating  them  in  the  order  of  their 
purity  of  race  and  completeness  of  their  isolation  :  ( I )  The 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF    PYGMIES  231 

Mincopies,  or  Andaman  Islanders  ;  (2)  the  Congo  pygmies 
(comprising  the  tribes  known  as  the  Akkas,  or  Tiki-Tikis, 
the  Barnbutis,  the  Watwas,  the  Obongos,  and  Bayagas)  ; 
(3)  the  bushmen  of  South  Africa  ;  (4)  the  Aetas  of  the 
Philippine  Islands  ;  (5)  the  Samangs  of  Malacca,  and  very 
similar  isolated  pygmy  tribes  which  have  been  observed  in 
New  Guinea,  and  also  in  the  Solomon  Islands  and  in 
Formosa.  The  Vcddas  of  Ceylon,  the  Senois  of  Malacca, 
and  the  Toalas  of  Celebes  are  apparently  races  which 
have  resulted  from  the  "  crossing  "  of  true  pygmies  with 
other  normal-statured  races  inhabiting  the  islands  in  which 
they  are  found.  The  Brahouis  of  Beloochistan  and  the 
"  monkey-men,"  or  Bandra-Loks,  east  of  the  Indus,  appear 
also  to  belong  to  the  pygmy  race. 

Next  to  their  agreement  in  small  size,  the  most  inter- 
esting fact  about  the  pygmies  we  have  just  emumerated 
is  that,  notwithstanding  the  wide  area  over  which  they 
are  found  in  scattered,  isolated  communities — viz.  from 
the  Congo  to  South  Africa  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the 
other  hand,  from  Central  Africa  to  the  Indian  Ocean,  and 
on  to  New  Guinea,  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  Formosa 
—yet  they  all  have  short,  round  skulls  of  full  average 
brain  capacity,  and  have  their  hair  growing  in  tightly 
curled-up  peppercorn-like  tufts— »t\vo  characters  found 
combined  in  no  other  race.  They  usually  have  finely-deve- 
loped, straight  foreheads,  and  the  jaws  do  not  project 
strongly  ;  the  lips  are  usually  fine  and  thin,  and  the  nose, 
though  very  broad,  is  not  always  greatly  flattened.  They 
are  well-shaped,  well-proportioned  little  people,  neither 
grotesque  nor  deformed.  To  a  great  extent  their 
corporeal  features  suggest  an  infantile  or  child-like  stage 
of  development,  and  the  same  is  true  of  their  intellectual 
condition  and  of  their  productions.  Their  habitations 
are  very  primitive,  either  caves  or  low  clay-made  huts,  of 
the  shape  of  half  an  egg.  They  do  not  make  pottery, 


232  THE   PYGMY  RACES   OF   MEN 

and  neither  keep  herds  nor  till  the  ground,  contenting 
themselves  with  such  food  as  wild  fruits  and  roots  and  the 
animals  they  kill  with  spear  or  arrow  or  capture  in  traps. 
They  do  not  mutilate  or  bedaub  their  bodies  (though  the 
Andamanese  indulge  in  a  kind  of  "  tattooing  ").  Among 
them  the  struggle  for  life  does  not  exist  in  its  more  brutal 
forms.  They  take  care  of  the  sick  and  feeble,  the  children, 
and  the  old  people.  Cannibalism  is  unknown  amongst 
them  ;  they  punish  murder  and  theft.  They  are  honest,  and, 
moreover,  are  monogamous,  and  punish  adultery,  which  is 
rare  among  them.  Their  religion  is  remarkably  simple.  It 
is  limited  to  reverence  for  a  Supreme  Being,  without  any 
offering  of  sacrifice,  and  they  do  not  worship  ancestors 
nor  exhibit  the  superstitions  known  as  "animism."  It  has 
been  argued  that  these  characteristics,  taken  together, 
indicate  a  primitive  condition  of  humanity.  On  the  other 
hand,  many  writers  regard  them  as  degenerate  offshoots 
of  negro-like  races  of  larger  stature  and  more  complicated 
mental  development. 

There  is  no  name  by  which  the  whole  series  of  these 
small-sized  people  is  indicated  excepting  the  ancient 
designation  of  "pygmies."  Many  careful  students  of 
human  races  separate  the  pygmies  of  Africa  as  "  negril- 
loes "  from  the  pygmies  of  Asia,  whom  they  designate 
"  negritoes,"  and  it  is  held  that  the  negrilloes  (Congo 
pygmies  and  bushmen)  hold  the  same  relation  to  African 
negroes  and  Zulus  as  the  negritoes  (Andamanese,  and 
scattered  tribes  in  New  Guinea,  the  Philippines,  For- 
mosa, and  the  Solomon  Islands,  as  well  as  in  Malacca 
and  Annam  and  in  the  north-west  and  in  other  parts  of 
Hindustan)  hold  to  the  full-sized,  frizzly  haired  Papuans. 
This,  no  doubt,  is  a  convenient  way  of  stating  the  case, 
but  the  important  fact  remains  that  the  pygmies  of  purest 
race,  both  of  Africa  and  Asia,  have  the  remarkable 
characteristics  in  common  which  we  have  noted  above. 


COLOUR    OF    THE    SKIN  233 

Their  bodily  and  mental  peculiarities  certainly  suggest, 
whether  the  suggestion  can  be  verified  or  not,  the  former 
existence  in  the  tropical  regions  of  Africa  and  Asia  of  a 
widely  spread  pygmy  race  of  uniform  character,  a  race 
which  has  been,  to  a  large  extent,  destroyed  by  other 
races  of  larger  and  more  powerful  individuals,  but  has 
also  in  many  regions  (especially  on  the  Asiatic  Continent) 
intermarried  with  the  surrounding  larger  people,  and 
given  rise  to  hybrid  races.  At  the  same  time,  it  seems 
that  in  other  regions  this  race  has,  by  isolation  in  forests 
and  mountain  ranges  and  by  the  exercise  of  special  skill 
in  the  use  of  poisoned  arro\vs  and  in  the  arts  of  conceal- 
ment, evasion,  and  terrorising,  succeeded  in  maintaining  its 
existence  and  primitive  independence  dating  from  remote 
prehistoric  times. 

Whether  we  regard  the  pygmies  as  one  race  or  as  the 
result  of  local  modification  of  larger  races,  it  is  noteworthy 
that  they  are  of  lighter  tint  than  the  black  races  close  to 
or  among  whom  they  live.  Some,  both  of  the  African 
and  Asiatic  pygmies,  are  very  dark  brown — practically 
black — -but  many  are  of  a  paler  and  yellowish  tint.  We 
must  not  forget  that  the  babies  and  quite  young  children 
of  negroes  are  nearly  "  white."  The  Asiatic  pygmies, 
notably  the  Andamanese,  are  darker  than  their  African 
fellows.  It  must  necessarily  be  difficult  in  studying  such 
a  race  to  make  due  allowance  not  merely  for  admixture 
of  blood  from  surrounding  populations,  but  to  estimate 
correctly  what  the  little  people  have  learnt  in  the  way  of 
art  and  habit  from  their  neighbours  arid  what  is  their  own. 
The  Andaman  Islanders,  though  provided  with  metal  by 
trading,  still  use  the  sharp-edged  splinters  of  volcanic 
glass-stone  to  shave  their  heads,  which  they  keep  entirely 
bald  ! 

It  is  one  of  the  merits  of  the  showman's  enterprise  in 
modern  times  that  he  brings  to  a  great  city  like  London 


234  THE   PYGMY  RACES   OF  MEN 

groups  of  interesting  savages,  without  imposture  and 
without  ill-treatment,  and  enables  us  to  see  and  talk  with 
them  almost  as  though  we  had  travelled  to  their  remote 
native  forests.  It  would  certainly  be  a  successful  and 
worthy  enterprise  on  the  part  of  the  Anthropological 
Society  of  London  to  start  a  garden  and  houses  such  as 
those  maintained  by  the  Zoological  Society,  but  arranged 
so  as  to  receive  some  five  or  six  groups  of  interesting 
"  savages."  The  society  would  be  responsible  for  careful 
and  humane  treatment  of  their  guests,  and  return  them 
after  a  sojourn,  say,  of  a  couple  of  years,  to  their  native 
country  and  replace  them  by  specimens  of  other  races. 
Under  the  auspices  of  showmen  I  have  seen  Zulu  Kaffirs, 
Guiana  Indians,  North  American  Indians,  Kalmuck 
Tartars,  South  African  bushmen,  and  Congo  pygmies  in 
London,  besides  many  hundreds  of  African  negroes  of 
various  tribes.  Farini's  bushmen  and  Hanson's  Congo 
pygmies  were  perfect  samples  of  the  dwarf  race  about 
which  I  am  writing.  But  I  also  saw  and  examined  care- 
fully, in  1872,  at  Naples,  with  my  friend  Professor  Panceri, 
the  two  African  pygmies,  Tebo  and  Chairallah,  who  were 
the  first  to  reach  Europe.  They  were  subsequently 
adopted  by  and  lived  for  some  years  under  the  care  of 
Count  Miniscalchi  Erizzo.  They  were  very  intelligent, 
and  learnt  to  read  and  to  write  well,  and  to  play  difficult 
music  on  the  piano,  with  feeling  and  appreciation.  We 
were  especially  concerned  to  determine  by  the  stage  of 
growth  of  their  teeth  and  other  indications  whether  they 
were  merely  ordinary  young  negroes,  as  some  anthro- 
pologists supposed,  or  really  representatives  of  the  dwarf 
race  as  asserted  by  the  traveller  Miani,  who  bought  them 
in  exchange  for  a  dog  and  a  calf,  in  the  country  of  the 
Mombootoos,  south  of  the  Welle  River,  and  west  of  the 
Albert  Nyanza.  They  were  still  young  and  growing 
when  we  examined  them,  but  Tebo  ceased  growth  when 


EGYPTIAN    STORIES    OF    PYGMIES 


235 


he  had  reached  a  stature  of  4  ft.  8  inches.  We  had  no 
difficulty  in  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  they  were, 
when  we  saw  them,  really  of  exceptionally  small  stature 
for  their  age  as  indicated  by  the  teeth  which  were  in  place 
in  their  jaws. 

The  Akkas  living  near  the  sources  of  the  Nile  were 
known  to  the  ancient  Egyptians,  and  were  the  foundation 
of  stories  and  fabulous  exaggerations  among  the  ancient 
Greeks.  Even  before  Homer  these  stories  existed,  and 
the  little  people  were  called  "  pygmies,"  which  means  "  of 
the  length  of  the  forearm "  (Greek,  pugme).  Homer 


FIG.  28. — Copy  of  a  figure  from  a  group  drawn  on  a  Greek  vase  (dating 
from  300  B.C.),  representing  a  number  of  the  pygmies  of  the  remote 
Upper  Nile  engaged  in  battle.  The  resemblance  of  the  peaked 
cap  and  of  the  beard  to  those  of  the  little  figures  carved  by  Black 
Forest  peasants  and  intended  to  represent  the  mythical  "gnomes" 
or  dwarf  mining-elves  is  noteworthy.  (From  Saglio  and  Deren- 
berg's  '  Dictionnarie  des  Antiquite's  Grecs  et  Romaines.') 

refers  to  the  wars  of  these  pygmies  with  the  cranes,  and  as 
a  matter  of  fact  the  African  pygmies  do  wage  a  kind  of 
war  upon  the  great  cranes  which  swarm  in  the  marsh-land 
of  their  country.  Naturally  enough  the  really  small  size 
of  the  African  pygmies  (they  are  about  4  ft.  in  height,  some 
two  or  three  inches  less,  some  as  much  as  eight  inches 
more)  was  exaggerated  by  report  and  tradition,  just  as  the 
really  big  eggs  of  the  great  extinct  ostrich-like  bird  of 
Madagascar  were  represented  in  the  story  of  Sindbad,  in 


236  THE  PYGMY  RACES   OF   MEN 

the  "  Arabian  Nights,"  as  being  as  large  as  the  dome  of  a 
temple,  and  the  bird  large  in  proportion.  The  Egyptians, 
as  we  have  seen,  knew  the  pygmy  Akkas,  and  Egyptian 
fact  was  ever  the  romance  of  the  Greeks. 

Herodotus  mentions  the  African  pygmies  from  beyond 
the  Libyan  desert,  citing,  as  is  his  wont,  the  accounts  of 
certain  travellers  with  whom  he  had  conversed,  and  a 
later  Greek  writer  tells  of  a  pygmy  race  in  India,  a  state- 
ment which  our  present  knowledge  confirms.  It  is  a 
curious  fact  that  Swift's  Lilliputians  are  thus  traceable  to 
the  Central  African  dwarf  race,  for  Greek  legend  related 
that  Hercules  visited  the  country  of  the  pygmies,  where 
on  waking  from  sleep  he  found  one  division  of  the  army 
guarding  his  right  leg,  another  his  left,  and  others  his  arms. 
Hercules  got  up,  swept  them  all  into  the  lion's  skin  which 
he  used  as  a  cloak,  and  went  on  his  way,  shaking  out  his 
small  tormentors  from  their  prison  as  though  they  were  so 
many  ants.  It  seems  fairly  certain  that  Swift  derived  the 
initial  scene  in  his  story  of  Gulliver's  adventures  among 
the  Lilliputians  from  this  legend. 

Miani's  p)'gmies  were  members  of  a  tribe  discovered  by 
the  distinguished  traveller  Schweinfurth,  who,  in  1870, 
was  the  first  to  visit  the  country  of  the  Niam-Niam,  to 
the  west  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  and  had  the  honour 
of  showing  that  the  myths  of  the  ancient  Greeks  as  to  a 
nation  of  pygmies  were  based  on  fact,  and  that  the 
definite  words  of  Aristotle  as  to  the  existence  of  these 
pygmy  people  on  the  upper  reaches  of  the  Nile  were 
correct.  Schweinfurth  found  to  the  south  of  the  Niam- 
Niam  country  a  tribe  of  full-statured  negroes  called  the 
Mombootoos,  whose  chief,  Moonza,  kept  close  to  the 
Royal  residence  a  colony  of  pygmies  who  were  called  in 
that  country  by  the  name  "  Akkas."  Schweinfurth 
ascertained  that  they  are  spread  to  the  number  of  many 
thousands  along  the  borders  of  the  great  Congo  forest, 


CONGO    AND    NEW    GUINEA    PYGMIES    237 

and  form  numerous  tribes.  They  are  very  generally  well 
treated  by  their  more  powerful  neighbours,  as  by  Moonza. 
Partly  from  fear  of  their  poisoned  arrows  and  their  crafty 
methods  of  attack  and  subsequent  disappearance  into  the 
forest,  partly  on  account  of  a  superstitious  dread  of  them, 
the  Congo  pygmies  are  not  only  tolerated,  but  protected, 
by  the  larger  people.  They  alone  are  at  home  in  the 
steaming  darkness  of  the  immeasurable  forest  into  which 
no  other  natives  dare  to  enter. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  the  Egyptologist  Mariette 
had,  before  these  discoveries,  found  on  an  ancient  Egyptian 
monument  the  portrait  of  a  dwarf  inscribed  with  the  word 
"  akka  " — the  identical  name  by  which  they  are  known  at 
this  day  in  the  region  where  Schweinfurth  found  them. 

Public  interest  in  the  pygmy  race  was  re-aroused  three 
years  ago  by  the  announcement  that  the  party  of  English 
naturalists  at  that  time  exploring  the  interior  of  New 
Guinea  had  come  across  a  tribe  of  these  little  people  in 
the  mountains  of  that  island.  The  existence  of  these 
pygmies  in  New  Guinea  was  already  well  known,  but 
fuller  accounts  of  them  will  be  valuable.  The  Italian 
traveller  Beccari,  in  1876,  speaks  of  them  as  "  Karonis," 
and  states  that  they  occupy  a  chain  of  mountains  parallel 
to  the  north  coast  of  the  north-west  peninsular  of  the 
island.  D'Albertis,  Lawes,  and  other  travellers  have  seen 
and  described  individuals  of  the  pygmy  race  of  the 
mountains  of  New  Guinea.  It  is  interesting  to  find  that 
they  are  described  as  having  the  body  covered  with  fine, 
woolly  hair,  a  feature  which  is  recorded  by  Schweinfurth, 
by  Stanley,  and  by  an  ancient  Greek  writer,  in  regard  to 
the  Congo  pygmies  of  Africa,  and  led  in  former  times  to 
the  notion  that  the  old  traditions  and  accounts  of  African 
pygmies  referred,  not  to  human  beings,  but  to  chimpanzees! 

The  Laplanders  are  the  only  very  small-sized  people  in 
Europe,  but  they  run  from  5  ft.  upwards,  whereas  the 


238  THE   PYGMY  RAGES  OF   MEN 

negritoes  and  negrillos  run  from  about  4  ft.  to  less  than 
5  ft.  The  Lapps  (of  whom  there  are  about  25,000  in 
Finmark  and  Lapmark)  are  a  thick-set,  round-headed 
(brachycephalic),  dark-yellow  race,  and  have  always  been 
credited  with  powers  of  witchcraft  and  magic  by  their 
neighbours  and  by  modern  sailors.  They  live  in  immediate 
contact  with  the  Finns  (both  are  Mongolian  races),  who  are 
very  tall  and  have  fair  hair  and  blue  eyes.  Some  writers 
have  supposed  that  the  Lapps  are  the  remnants  of  a  small 
race  which  was  formerly  spread  over  the  whole  of  Europe, 
and  was  exterminated  or  driven  out  by  the  larger  races. 
But  we  have  no  evidence  in  favour  of  this  view  and  strong 
evidence  against  it,  since  we  now  know  the  skulls  and 
skeletons  of  a  great  number  of  the  prehistoric  inhabitants 
of  Europe  belonging  to  the  Bronze,  to  the  Neolithic,  and 
to  the  Palaeolithic  periods.  None  of  these  skeletons  belong 
to  an  abnormally  small-sized  race,  though  the  Bronze-age 
people  were  smaller  than  their  predecessors  and  successors. 
The  cave-dwellers  of  the  "  reindeer  "  epoch  of  the  Palaeo- 
lithic period  were  big  men,  with  fine,  high  skulls,  and  even 
the  earlier  Palaeolithic  men  of  the  glacial  period,  the  man 
of  the  Neanderthal,  the  couple  from  Spy,  and  the  three 
recently  dug  up  near  Perigueux  (of  whom  I  have  written 
in  another  book),*  were  not  diminutive  men.  It  is  true 
they  were  not  tall — only  about  5  ft.  4  in.  in  height — but 
they  were  very  powerful  and  muscular,  and  totally  different 
physically  from  the  Lapps  or  from  any  of  the  tropical 
pygmy  men.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  in  one  cave  at 
Mentone,  on  the  Riviera,  explored  by  the  Prince  of  Monaco, 
two  skeletons  have  been  found  belonging  to  a  shortish, 
negro-like  race  (indicated  by  the  form  of  the  skull),  and 
apparently  a  little  later  in  date  than  the  Neandermen. 
We  must  remember  that  at  that  remote  date  there  was 
continuous  land  connection  between  Europe  and  Africa. 

*  'Science  from  an  Easy  Chair,'  Methuen,  1909. 


THE    CAUSES    OF    SMALL    SIZE  239 

There  is,  in  fact,  no  reason  to  suppose  that  a  pygmy  race 
ever  existed  in  Europe,  though,  of  course,  individuals  of 
exceptionally  small  stature  are  often  produced,  and  in 
some  regions  the  whole  population  is  shorter  than  it  is  in 
others. 

A  very  interesting  question  in  connection  with  the  origin 
and  significance  of  pygmy  races  of  men  is,  "Why  is  any 
race  smaller  in  size  than  another?"  Every  species 
among  the  higher  animals  has  its  standard  size  from  which 
only  in  the  rarest  cases  are  there  departures.  That  in 
itself  is  a  curious  fact.  How  was  the  standard  size 
determined,  and  how  is  it  maintained  ?  The  whole 
question  lies  there.  At  first  sight  it  seems  to  many  people 
quite  simple  to  account  for  "  pygmies  "  ;  they  will  tell  you 
that  the  poor  creatures  are  half-starved  and  so  unable  to 
grow  to  full  size.  That  explanation  does  not,  however, 
meet  the  case,  for  the  African  and  Asiatic  pygmy  races 
are  just  as  well  nourished  as  most  of  their  neighbours. 
Also  if  we  look  a  little  further  we  find  that  the  women  of 
every  race  are  smaller  than  the  men,  and  often  much 
smaller.  That  is  not  because  they  are  ill-nourished  as 
compared  with  the  men.  And,  again,  we  find  very  closely 
similar  species  of  animals  existing  side  by  side,  one  a 
large  species  and  the  other  a  small  one,  having  the  same 
opportunities  of  obtaining  regular  nourishment.  There 
are  many  instances,  but  take  for  example  the  beautiful 
Great  Koodoo  antelope  of  Africa,  with  its  fine  spiral  horns, 
which  measures  5ft.  at  the  shoulder,  and  the  Little  Koodoo, 
a  complete  miniature  of  it  existing  alongside  of  it,  and 
standing  only  3ft.  5 in.  at  the  shoulder.  Take  the  two 
common  white  butterflies  of  this  country,  the  Large  White 
and  the  Small  White,  also  the  Large  Tortoiseshell  butter- 
fly and  the  small.  Take  the  instance  of  many  plant 
genera  of  which  larger  and  smaller  species  are  found 


240 


THE   PYGMY  RAGES   OF   MEN 


growing  side  by  side.  The  difference  in  size  in  these 
cases  cannot  be  traced  to  any  insufficiency  of  nutrition  in 
the  smaller  kind. 

It  is  evident  that  difference  of  size  in  animals  has  some 
deep-lying  cause,  which  is  not  merely  the  greater  or  less 
abundance  of  food.  Numerous  specimens  of  a  perfectly 
well-formed  elephant,  closely  allied  in  structure  to  the 
Indian  elephant,  but  only  3  ft.  high,  are  found  fossil  in 
Malta  and  the  neighbouring  Mediterranean  region,  and 
in  Liberia  a  species  of  hippopotamus,  distinct  from  that  of 
other  African  regions,  is  common,  which  is  not  bigger  than 
a  common  pig.  Pygmy  hogs,  pygmy  deer,  pygmy 
buffaloes  (and  many  other  pygmy  animals)  are  known  as 
thriving  wild  species,  so  that  it  seems  clear  that  there  are 
other  causes  at  work  than  semi-starvation  in  the  produc- 
tion of  pygmy  races. 

A  second  suggestion  which  is  sometimes  made  is  that 
the  smaller  race,  or  smaller  species  of  two  allied  forms,  is 
the  original  one,  and  that  the  larger  forms  have  developed 
from  these  and  established  themselves,  without  completely 
destroying  the  smaller  original  race.  This  view  has  at 
various  times  been  favoured  in  regard  to  the  pygmy  race 
of  man.  There  is  something  plausible  in  the  view  that 
these  little  men  are  nearer  than  normal  mankind  are  to 
the  monkeys,  and  the  fur-like  hairiness  of  their  skin  has 
been  cited  in  support  of  it ;  but  a  fatal  objection  is  that 
the  men  of  the  pure  pygmy  race  of  Africa  and  Asia  are 
really  not  more,  but  less,  monkey-like  than  many  full-sized 
savages.  They  have  heads  and  faces  nearer  in  shape  to 
those  of  Europeans  than  have  the  Australians,  the  Tas- 
manians,  and  the  negroes.  They  are  more  intelligent, 
shrewd,  and  skilful  than  their  full-sized  neighbours.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  they  are  a  very  ancient  race — more 
ancient,  in  their  isolation  and  freedom  from  complicated 
customs,  habits,  and  modes  of  life  than  other  savages — 


THE    CAUSES    OF    SMALL    SIZE  241 

but  they  are  not  primitive  in  the  sense  of  being  ape-like 
in  structure  or  in  want  of  mental  capacity. 

A  third  possibility  in  regard  to  the  pygmy  people  is 
that  they  have  been  "selected"  by  natural  conditions 
which  favoured  the  survival  of  small  individuals,  and  thus 
established  a  small  race — just  as  man  has  established 
small  races  of  horses,  dogs,  cattle,  or  what  not,  by 
continually  selecting  small  individuals  for  breeding,  until 
he  has  produced  such  races  as  the  Shetland  pony,  the  toy 
terrier,  and  the  Kerry  cow.  It  is  necessary  to  discover 
or  to  suggest  (if  this  explanation  is  to  be  accepted)  what 
precisely  is  the  advantage,  in  a  state  of  nature,  to  a  small- 
sized  race  in  being  of  small  size.  The  guess  is  made  that 
the  small  people  can  more  easily  hide,  whether  in  forest 
or  among  the  rocks  and  caves  of  mountainous  regions, 
from  aggressive  larger-sized  mankind.  The  objection  to 
this  view  is  that  though  it  may  explain  the  present  habits 
and  dwelling-places  of  some  of  the  pygmy  race,  it  is  not 
capable  of  explaining  their  first  segregation  and  formation 
as  a  distinct  race.  Another  general  advantage  which 
small  animals  have  over  larger  ones  of  the  same  species  is 
that  if  the  food  of  the  species  is  widely  distributed  but 
limited  in  amount,  a  hundred  individuals  weighing  5st. 
each  will  secure  more  of  it  than  fifty  individuals  weighing 
lost.  each.  The  total  weight  of  individuals  is  the  same, 
but  the  smaller  series  will  cover  twice  the  area  and  have 
twice  as  much  opportunity  to  secure  the  limited  amount 
of  food,  whilst,  in  proportion  to  their  size,  requiring  less.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that,  other  things  being  equal,  this 
obvious  relation  must  tend  to  limit  the  increase  in  size  of 
animals  which  have  to  search  for  their  special  food,  and 
must  favour  small  races. 

Some  writers  have  supposed  that  small  limited  areas, 
such  as  small  islands,  favour  the  production  of  small  races 
by  some  mysterious  law  of  appropriateness  similar  to  that 

16 


242  THE   PYGMY  RAGES   OF   MEN 

which  lays  down  that  "  who  drives  fat  oxen  should  himself 
be  fat."  The  pygmy  buffalo  of  the  island  of  Celebes,  the 
Anoa,  is  cited  as  an  instance,  and  the  pygmy  men  of  the 
Andaman  Islands  as  another.  But  there  are  plenty  of 
facts  which  would  lead  to  an  exactly  opposite  conclusion. 
Gigantic  tortoises  are  found  in  the  Galapagos  Islands  and 
in  the  minute  islands  of  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  never  on 
the  big  continents.  Gigantic  birds  bigger  than  ostriches 
abounded  in  the  islands  of  New  Zealand  and  Madagascar. 
Some  of  the  tallest  races  of  men  are  found  in  the  Pacific 
islands,  whilst  the  tallest  European  population  is  that  of 
the  north  of  the  island  called  Great  Britain.  Probably 
the  real  relation  of  islands  to  the  matter  is  that  owing  to 
their  isolation  and  freedom  from  the  general  competition 
of  the  vast  variety  of  living  things  in  continental  areas, 
they  offer  unoccupied  territory  in  which  either  excep- 
tionally small  or  exceptionally  big  races  may  flourish — if 
once  they  reach  the  island  shelter,  or  are  by  variation 
produced  there— without  competitive  interference. 

An  important  consideration  in  regard  to  the  formation 
and  segregation  of  a  human  variety  or  race  is  that 
mankind  shows  a  tendency  to  segregate  in  groups,  like 
with  like.  To  a  large  extent  this  is  true  also  of  animals, 
but  in  man  it  acquires  a  special  dominance,  owing  to  the 
greater  activity  in  him  of  psychical  or  mental  influences  in 
all  his  proceedings.  The  "  cagots  "  of  mid-France  are  the 
descendants  of  former  leper  families.  They  remain 
separated  from  the  rest  of  the  population,  and  do  not  now 
know  why,  nor  do  their  hostile  neighbours.  Such 
"  outcast  "  or  "  accursed  "  tribes  and  family  groups  are 
found  also  in  Great  Britain,  and  throughout  the  world. 
Possibly  the  "  pygmies "  owe  their  preservation  to  this 
tendency.  Virchow  regarded  the  Lapps  as  a  race 
produced  by  disease — a  pathological  product.  It  is 
possible  that  former  liability  to  disease  and  present 


SMALLNESS    A    CORRELATION  243 

immunity  from  it  is  the  final  explanation  of  the  tropical 
pygmy  race.  In  the  United  States  black  pigs  are  able  to 
eat,  without  harm,  a  common  marsh  herb,  the  "  Red-root " 
Lachnanthes  tinctoria,  which  kills  other  pigs.  Hence  a 
black  race  is  established,  not  because  it  is  black,  but  be- 
cause, in  it,  blackness  is  "  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of 
an  inward  and  chemical  grace  " — that  is  to  say,  of  a  physio- 
logical or  chemical  power  of  resistance  to,  and  immunity 
from,  the  poison  of  an  otherwise  nutritious  plant.  Such 
"  correlations "  were  described  by  Darwin,  and  are  of 
extreme  importance  and  interest — far  more  so  than  is,  at 
present,  recognised  by  naturalists.  I  am  inclined  to  the 
supposition  that  the  obvious  outward  signs,  the  round  head, 
bombous  forehead,  furry  skin,  and  diminutive  size  of  the 
pygmies  are  the  outcome  of  an  inward  physiological  con- 
dition peculiar  to  them,  which  has  enabled  them  to  resist 
disease  or  to  eat  certain  kinds  of  food,  or  possibly  to 
develop  great  mental  acuteness,  and  so  has  led  to  the 
establishment  of  these  peculiar  small  people  as  a  race, 
without  their  smallness  itself  having  anything  to  do  with 
their  selection  and  preservation.  In  that  case  smallness 
would  be  a  "  by-product,"  a  "  correlated  "  character,  not 
the  "  effective  life-saving  "  character. 


CHAPTER    XIX 

PREHISTORIC   PETTICOATS 

AFTER  the  last  great  extension  of  glaciers  in  Europe, 
during  which  nearly  all  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
North  of  France  and  Germany  were  buried  with 
Scandinavia  under  one  great  ice-sheet — and  when  this  ice- 
sheet  had  receded,  and  the  climate  was  like  that  of  the 
Russian  "  steppes,"  cold  and  dry — there  were  men 
inhabiting  the  caverns  on  both  sides  of  the  Pyrenees. 
The  tract  of  land  which  we  call  "  Great  Britain  "  was  a 
part  of  the  Continent  of  Europe.  There  was  no  "  English 
Channel."  The  Thames  and  the  Rhine  opened  by  a 
common  mouth  into  the  North  Sea.  The  mammoth  and 
the  hairy  rhinoceros  still  lingered  on  in  France  and  the 
more  central  regions  of  Europe.  Wild  horses,  the  great 
ox  (Aurochs),  the  bison,  ibex,  chamois,  were  abundant, 
and  the  thick-nosed  Saiga  antelope,  now  confined  to  the 
Russian  and  Asiatic  steppes,  was  present.  The  most 
abundant  and  important  animal  immediately  north  of  the 
Pyrenees  was  the  reindeer,  The  cave-men  of  France  and 
Central  Europe  were  a  fine  race — living  by  the  chase,  and 
fabricating  flint  knives  and  scrapers,  fine  bone  spearheads 
and  harpoons,  as  well  as  occupying  themselves  in  carving 
ivory  and  reindeer  antlers,  so  as  to  produce  highly  artistic 
representations  of  the  animals  around  them. 

They  rarely  attempted  the  human   face  or  figure,  and 
when  they  did  were  not  so   successful  as  in  their  animal 


EARLY    CARVINGS    AND    PICTURES       245 

work.  They  also  painted  on  the  walls  of  some  of  their 
caverns,  with  red  and  yellow  ochre,  carbon,  and  white 
chalk,  representations — usually  about  one-third  the  size  of 
nature — of  some  of  the  most  important  animals  of  the 
chase.  They  must  have  used  lamps,  fed  with  animal  fat, 
to  illuminate  the  walls,  both  when  they  were  at  work  on 
the  pictures  and  also  afterwards,  when  they  exhibited  the 
finished  pictures  to  the  less  gifted  members  of  the 
tribe,  as  wonderful,  even  magical,  appearances.  It  is 
uncertain  to  what  extent  races  of  men  succeeded  one 
another  or  were  cotemporaries  in  this  period  in  Europe, 
but  there  is  good  reason  for  attributing  the  cave  pictures 
to  an  early  occupation  of  the  caves  by  men  who  also 
carved,  in  ivory  and  stone,  small  figures  of  women  resem- 
bling the  Hottentot  Venus — whilst  the  later  occupants 
made  no  such  statuettes,  but  carved  in  relief  on  bone  or 
engraved  it. 

This  was  probably  not  less  than  50,000  years  ago,  and 
may  well  have  been  much  more.  Earlier  than  the  date 
of  these  Reindeer  men  (the  Magdalenians,  Solutrians  and 
the  Aurignacians*),  in  the  preceding  cold,  humid  period 
of  the  glacial  extension  (probably  from  80,000  to  I  50,000 
years  ago)  these  and  other  caves  were  occupied  by  an 
inferior  race — the  Neandermen.  They  could  not  carve 
beasts  on  ivory  nor  paint,  but  could  make  very  good  and 
well  "  dressed  "  flint  weapons,  and  could  make  large  fires 
in  and  about  the  caves,  both  to  cook  their  meat  and  to 
keep  off  the  wild  beasts  (lions,  bears,  and  hyenas),  who 
contended  with  the  strange,  low-browed  Neandermen  for 
the  use  of  the  caves  as  habitations. 

*  A  brief  account  of  the  skulls  and  implements  of  primitive  man,  with 
illustrations,  is  given  in  the  first  series  of  '  Science  from  an  Easy  Chair,' 
published  in  1910  by  Methuen  &  Co.,  but  the  reader  should  consult  the 
forthcoming  new  edition  of  'Ancient  Hunters  '  by  Professor  Sollas  fo'r  an 
extended  and  well-illustrated  account  of  the  successive  phases  and  races  of 
prehistoric  mankind. 


246  PREHISTORIC  PETTICOATS 

On  this  side  of  the  Pyrenees  the  Reindeer  men  have 
left  some  wall-pictures,  and  new  discoveries  of  great 
importance  in  the  form  of  rock  carvings  of  human  figures 
as  well  as  pictures  and  huge  figures  of  horses,  etc.,  are 
being  made  in  France  as  I  write  these  lines.  But  the 
best  preserved  and  most  numerous  wall  pictures  are 
those  of  the  cave  of  Altamira  near  Santander.  These 
comprise  some  partially  preserved  representations  in 
yellow,  red,  white,  and  black  of  the  great  bison,  the  wild 
boar,  the  horse,  and  other  animals.  A  group  representing 
some  twenty-five  or  more  animals  (each  about  one  third 
the  size  of  nature),  irregularly  arranged,  exists  on  a  part 
of  the  roof,  and  others  are  found  in  other  parts  of  the 
cavern.  Among  the  wall-pictures  made  by  ancient  cave- 
men are  numerous  drawings  of  human  beings  in  masks 
representing  animals'  heads — probably  indicating  the 
"  dressing-up "  in  animal  masks  of  priests  or  medicine- 
men in  the  way  in  which  we  know  to-day  is  the 
custom  among  many  savage  tribes.  Twenty-seven 
of  these  "decorated"  caverns  were  known  in  1910 — 
eleven  in  Spain,  one  in  Italy,  and  fifteen  in  South  and 
Central  France — and  others  are  continually  being  discov- 
ered. The  most  careful  and  critical  examination  by 
scientific  men  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  the  vast  antiquity  of 
these  paintings,  and  as  to  their  dating  from  a  time  when 
the  animals  painted  (including  in  some  cases  mammoth 
and  rhinoceros,  as  well  as  bison,  reindeer,  wild  boar,  ibex, 
red  deer,  bear,  and  felines)  were  existing  in  the  locality. 
The  covering  up  of  some  of  the  drawings  (which  are 
partly  engraved  and  partly  painted)  by  earthy  deposits 
and  by  encrustations  of  lime,  and  the  presence  in  the  cave 
deposits  of  the  worked  flints  and  bones  characteristic  of  the 
Reindeer  men,  leave  no  doubt  that  these  pictures  are  of  that 
immense  antiquity  which  we  express  by  the  words  <l  Quater- 
nary period,"  "  Upper  Pleistocene  "  or  "  Reindeer  epoch." 


PAINTINGS    IN    CAVERNS  247 

It  is,  of  course,  only  in  accordance  with  what  one  would 
expect  that  these  pictures  are  of  very  varying  degrees  of 
artistic  merit.  But  some  (a  considerable  number)  are 
quite  remarkable  for  their  true  artistic  quality.  In  this 
respect  they  differ  from  the  rock  paintings  of  modern 
savage  races — the  Bushmen  of  South  Africa,  the 
Australians,  and  the  California!!  Indians — with  which, 
however,  it  is  instructive  to  compare  them.  Many  of  them 
agree  in  their  essential  artistic  character  with  the  carvingand 
engraving  of  animals  on  bone  and  ivory  so  abundantly 
produced  by  the  later  Reindeer  men.  It  is  also  the  fact 
that  these  Franco-Spanish  wall  paintings  were  executed  at 
different  periods  in  the  Reindeer  epoch.  Some  are  more 
primitive  than  others;  some  are  very  badly  preserved,  mere 
scratched  outlines  with  all  the  paint  washed  away  by  the 
moisture  of  ages ;  but  others  are  bright  and  sharp  in  their 
colouring  to  a  degree  which  is  surprising  when  their  age 
and  long  exposure  are  considered.  The  French  pre- 
historians,  MM.  Cartailac  and  the  Abbe  Breuil,  have  pro- 
duced a  sumptuous  volume  containing  an  account,  with 
large  coloured  plates,  of  the  best  preserved  of  the  Altamira 
paintings — a  copy  of  which  I  owe  to  the  kindness  of 
H.S.H.  the  Prince  of  Monaco,  who  has  ordered  the  publi- 
cation of  the  work  at  his  own  charges.  This  has  been 
followed  by  an  equally  fine  work  under  the  same  auspices, 
ilustrating  the  wall-pictures  of  the  Cavern  of  the  Font-de- 
Gaume  in  the  Dordogne,  for  which  we  have  to  thank  the 
Abbe  Breuil.  A  further  volume  on  Spanish  Caves  has 
also  appeared  from  the  same  source  in  the  present  year. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  the  country  folk,  who,  in  some 
of  the  Spanish  localities,  have  known  the  existence 
of  these  paintings  from  time  immemorial,  should  regard 
them  as  the  work  of  the  ancient  Moors,  all  ancient 
work  in  Spain  being  popularly  attributed  to  the 
Moors,  as  a  sort  of  starting-point  in  history.  It  is, 


248  PREHISTORIC   PETTICOATS 

however,  very  remarkable  that  little  damage  appears  to 
have  been  done  by  the  population  to  the  paintings,  even 
when  they  exist  in  shallow  caves  or  on  overhanging  rocks. 
No  doubt  weathering,  and  the  oozing  of  moisture,  and  the 
flaking  caused  by  it,  has  destroyed  most  of  the  Pleistocene 
paintings  which  once  existed,  and  it  is  an  ascertained  fact 
that  some — for  instance,  those  of  Altamira — are  breaking 
to  pieces  owing  to  the  opening-up  and  frequentation  of 
the  caverns. 

It  has  been  remarked  that,  although  these  paintings 
belong  to  what  is  called  the  "  reindeer  epoch,"  yet  in  the 
cave  of  Altamira  there  are  no  representations  of  reindeer, 
but  chiefly  of  bison  and  wild  boar.  It  is  also  remarkable 
that  in  the  case  of  the  painted  rock  shelters  of  Calapata 
(Lower  Aragon)  and  of  Cogul  (near  Lerida,  in  Catalonia), 
no  reindeer  are  represented  ;  but  on  the  former  there  are 
very  admirable  drawings  of  the  red  deer,  and  on  the  latter 
silhouettes  of  the  bull,  of  the  red  deer,  and  the  ibex.  In 
fact,  no  representations  of  reindeer  have  been  observed  on 
cave  walls  or  rock-shelters  south  of  the  Pyrenees.  It  is 
possible  that  this  may  be  due  to  the  date  of  the  Spanish 
paintings  being  a  good  deal  later  than  that  of  those  French 
cave-paintings  which  show  reindeer,  mammoth,  and 
rhinoceros.  And  we  have  to  bear  in  mind  that  in  the 
North  of  Africa  (Oran)  engraved  drawings  on  exposed 
rocks  are  known,  which  are  for  good  reasons  attributed  to 
the  Neolithic  period  ;  that  is  to  say,  they  are  later  than 
the  Reindeer  epoch  of  the  Palaeolithic  period,  whilst  some 
are  even  much  later. 

In  any  case  we  have  to  remember  that  there  are  two 
very  different  and  possible  explanations  of  the  presence  or 
absence  either  of  certain  animals'  bones  or  of  representa- 
tions of  certain  animals  in  one  "  decorated  "  cave  and  not 
in  another.  The  one  explanation  is  that  animals  have 
succeeded  one  another  in  time  in  Western  Europe — 


PAINTING    OF    HUMAN    FIGURES  249 

changing  as  the  climatic  conditions  have  changed — and 
that  when,  in  two  cave-decorations  or  cave-deposits 
compared,  the  animals  are  different,  the  cause  may  be 
that  the  one  deposit  or  cave-decoration  is  more  recent 
than  the  other.  The  other  explanation  is  that  (as  we  well 
know)  at  one  and  the  same  moment  very  different  animals 
occupy  tracts  of  land  which  are  only  a  hundred  miles  or 
so  apart,  but  differ  in  climate  and  general  conditions.  At 
this  moment  there  are  wild  bears  and  also  wolves  in 
France,  but  none  in  England ;  the  elk  occurs  in  Sweden 
and  Russia,  but  not  in  the  West  of  Europe  ;  the  porcupine 
in  Italy  and  in  Spain,  but  not  in  France.  As  late  as  the 
historic  period  the  African  elephant  flourished  on  the 
African  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  but  not  in  Spain  ; 
now  it  is  not  found  north  of  the  Sahara  at  all.  So  we 
have  various  possibilities  to  consider  in  comparing  the 
animal  pictures  on  the  cave  walls  of  Spain  with  those 
found  in  France,  and  may  well  suspend  judgment  till  we 
have  knowledge  of  a  greatly  extended  area. 

I  am  anxious  to  draw  attention  in  this  chapter  to  the 
painted  group  of  ten  human  figures  lately  discovered  on  a 
rock  shelter  at  Cogul,  near  Lerida,  in  Catalonia,  and 
figured  and  described  in  the  admirable  French  journal 
called  '  L'Anthropologie.'  These  figures  are  those  of 
young  women  dressed  in  short  skirts  and  curious  sleeves, 
the  hair  done  up  in  a  conical  mass  rising  from  the  sides 
to  the  top  of  the  head.  Each  figure  is  about  ten  inches 
high.  The  great  interest  about  these  drawings  is  that 
they  are  probably  tens  of  thousands  of  years  old,  and 
present  to  us  the  women  of  the  reindeer  or  late 
Pleistocene  epoch.  No  other  such  painting  of  the 
women  of  this  period  is  known,  and  the  astonishing 
thing  is  that,  though  these  are  by  no  means  fine 
specimens  of  prehistoric  art,  yet  there  is  a  definitely 


250  PREHISTORIC   PETTICOATS 

modern  look  about  the  figures  and  a  freedom  of 
touch  about  the  drawing  which  makes  one  think  at  first 
that  the  picture  is  some  modern,  hasty  but  clever  sketch 
in  silhouette  of  a  number  of  short-skirted  school-girls  at 
play.  The  waist  is  extremely  small  and  elongated,  the 
skirt,  or  petticoat,  bell-shaped,  and  the  whole  figure 
"  sinuous."  One  of  the  figures  appears  to  have  a  cloak  or 
jacket,  but  the  breasts  and  legs  are  bare. 

Some  three  years  ago  Sir  Arthur  Evans  discovered  in 
the  palace  of  the  ancient  Kings  of  Crete  coloured  frescoes 


FIG.  29.  —  Reproduction  of  drawings  from  a  rock  shelter  near  Lerida 
in  Catalonia,  representing  a  group  of  women  clothed  in  jacket  and 
skirt  with  "  wasp-like  "  waists.  The  original  figures  are  ten  inches 
high,  and  the  drawing  probably  dates  from  the  late  Palaeolithic 
period.  ' 

some  3500  years  old  representing  in  great  detail  elegant 
young  women  with  greatly  compressed  waists,  strongly- 
pronounced  bustles,  and  elaborately  ornamented  skirts. 
These  Cretan  paintings  of  prehistoric  young  women,  both 
in  costume  and  pose,  are  like  nothing  so  much  as  the 
portraits  of  distinguished  ladies  of  the  fashionable  world 
of  Paris  exhibited  by  the  painter,  Boldini,  in  the  "  Salon." 
It  is  remarkable  that  explorers  should  have  found  con- 


ARTISTIC    SYMPATHY 


251 


temporary  paintings  of  young  ladies  who  lived  nearly  as 
long  before  Cleopatra  as  she  lived  before  us.  And  it  is 
still  more  remarkable  that  those  young  ladies  were  "  got 
up  "  in  the  same  style,  and  apparently  aimed  at  much  the 
same  effects  of  line  and  movement,  as  those  which  have 
become  the  latest  fashion  in  Paris,  and  may  be  described 
as  sinuous  and  serpentine.  Not  only  is  that  the  case,  but 


FIG.  30.  —  A  further  portion  of  the  same  group  as  that  shown  in  Fig.  29. 
In  front  is  a  small  deer-like  animal. 

it  is  evident  that  the  painter  of  Knossos,  the  Minotaur 
city,  and  M.  Boldini  have  experienced  the  same  artistic 
impression,  and  have  presented  in  their  pictures  the  same 
significance  of  pose  and  the  same  form,  from  the  tip  of 
the  nose  to  the  ends  of  the  fingers  and  the  points  of  the 
toes — thus  revealing  a  sympathy  reaching  across  many 
ages.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  same  artistic  impression 
is  to  be  detected  in  the  still  earlier  paintings  of  the  wasp- 


252  PREHISTORIC   PETTICOATS 

waisted  little  ladies  of  the  Cogul  rock-shelter  in  Catalonia. 
We  find  here  the  same  sinuous  figure  with  exaggeratedly 
compressed  waist,  prominent  bosom,  and  emphasised 
haunches.  But  it  is  many,  perhaps  forty,  thousand  years 
earlier  !  One  is  led  to  wonder  whether  this  type  of  human 
female — to-day  expressed  with  such  masterly  skill  by 
Boldini — may  not  be  at  the  back  of  the  mind  of  a  portion 
of  the  human  race — that  which  populated  what  are  now 
the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  probably  came  there 
travelling  northwards  from  the  centre  of  Africa.  Possibly 
they  brought  with  them  that  tendency  to,  and  admiration 
for,  megalopygy  which  is  evidenced  by  the  makers  of 
the  earliest  known  palaeolithic  cave  sculptures  (the 
Aurignacians),  and  has  persisted  in  some  degree 
ever  since  in  Europe — a  tendency  and  a  taste  which 
are  on  the  one  hand  totally  absent  in  the  East  and 
Far  East  (Japan),  and  on  the  other  hand  have  a  strong 
development  in  the  modern  Bushmen  (and  the  related 
Hottentots),  an  African  race,  and  like  the  Spanish  cave- 
men, rock  painters. 

I  am  able  to  reproduce  here  (Plates  X  and  XI), 
through  the  kindness  of  Sir  Arthur  Evans  and  Dr.  Hogarth, 
the  keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum  at  Oxford,  two 
very  interesting  drawings — showing  certain  features  in 
the  dress  of  women  in  the  prehistoric  race  which 
inhabited  the  island  of  Crete  for  some  three  thousand 
years  previous  to  the  date  of  these  representations,  which 
is  about  1600  B.C.  They  are  interesting  to  compare  both 
with  the  much  more  ancient  figures  from  the  Spanish 
cave  and  with  modern  female  costume.  The  first  (Plate 
X)  is  a  figure  in  coloured  pottery  (faience),  representing 
either  a  votary  or  priestess  of  a  goddess  to  whom 
snakes  were  sacred.  The  petticoat  of  this  lady  is 
very  modern,  being  long,  decorated  with  flounces  (a  series 
of  five)  and  bell-shaped.  The  dress  is  further  remarkable 


PLATE  X. 


PLATE  X. — Votary  or  priestess  of  the  goddess  to  whom  snakes  were 
sacred.  The  original  is  a  statuette  in  faience,  ten  inches  high,  and 
was  discovered  by  Sir  Arthur  Evans  in  the  palace  at  Knossos  in  Crete. 
It  dates  from  1600  B.C. 


PLATE  XI, 


253 


PLATE  XI. — Fresco  drawing  of  two  female  acrobats  from  the  palace  at 
Knossos,  date  about  1400  B.C.  The  originals  were  discovered  by  Sir 
Arthur  Evans. 


254  PREHISTORIC    PETTICOATS 

for  a  tight  ring-like  girdle  which  greatly  compresses  the 
waist  and  emphasises  the  broad  hips.  The  little  statue  is 
about  ten  inches  high,  and  was  found  by  Sir  Arthur  Evans 
at  Knossos,  the  ancient  buried  city,  the  capital  of  Crete,  in 
the  Later  Palace.  Its  date  is  that  of  the  close  of  the 
Minoan  period,  namely  1600  B.C.  The  two  figures  in 
Plate  XI  are  copied  from  frescoes  representing  acrobatic 
women  from  the  bull-ring,  also  from  the  Later  Palace  at 
Knossos,  and  are  a  couple  of  centuries  later  in  date. 
Religious  ceremonies  in  connection  with  the  worship  of  the 
bull  (whence  the  fable  of  the  minotaur)  were  practised  in 
Knossos,  and  possibly  there  was  a  kind  of  baiting  of 
bulls  and  jumping  over  and  away  from  the  infuriated 
animals  such  as  may  be  seen  at  this  day  in  the  South  of 
France  and  in  Portugal.  Possibly  the  employment  of 
girls  in  this  sport  gave  rise  to  the  story  of  the  maiden 
tribute  from  Athens  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  Cretan  minotaur. 
The  drawings  are  remarkable  for  the  pose — that  of  the 
left-hand  figure  resembling  an  attitude  assumed  in  boxing, 
whilst  the  dress — a  kind  of  maillot  or  "  tights " — is 
gripped  round  the  waist  by  a  firm  ring  (like  a  table- 
napkin  ring),  the  compression  of  which  is  no  doubt 
exaggerated.  This  fresco  and  many  others  of  extra- 
ordinary interest,  as  well  as  much  beautiful  pottery  and 
the  whole  of  the  plan  of  the  city,  its  public  buldings, 
granaries,  library  and  sewers  at  several  successive  ages 
(the  remains  lying  in  layers  one  over  the  other),  were 
discovered  and  described  by  Sir  Arthur  Evans,  who  is 
still  at  work  on  the  wonderful  history  and  art  of  these 
prehistoric  Cretans,  from  whom  the  Mycenaeans  of  the 
mainland  of  Greece  were  an  offshoot. 

The  point  to  which  I  chiefly  desire  to  call  attention  is  that 
this  Cretan  people  practised  compression  of  the  waist,  and 
so  have  a  certain  point  of  agreement  with  the  prehistoric 
race  of  Lerida  represented  in  Figs.  29  and  30  and  with 


AURIGNAGIANS  AND   BUSHMEN  ALLIED   255 

Boldini's  modern  ladies.  We  know  from  carvings  and 
pottery  that  the  men  as  well  as  the  women  of  the 
Mycenaean  people  wore  a  tightly-compressing  girdle. 
The  form  of  figure  thus  produced — viz.  relatively  small, 
flexible  waist,  and  large  hips  with  protruding  buttocks — 
seems  to  be  a  less  pronounced  variety  of  that  of  the  small 
ivory  figures  of  Aurignacian  age  (late  Palaeolithic)  found 
in  cave  deposits  of  France  and  of  that  of  the  Bushmen 
women.  It  seems  as  though  the  "  ideal "  female  figure 
or  that  admired  and  pictured  by  these  races  and  by  the 
modern  Latin  races  is  the  same  in  its  main  features,  and 
differs  altogether  from  that  admired  in  the  Far  East. 
Such  deeply  seated  tastes  may  possibly  (indeed,  not 
improbably)  be  due  to  a  common  origin  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean and  African  peoples  distinct  from  that  of  the 
Mongoloid  Asiatic  races. 


CHAPTER  XX 

NEW  YEAR'S  DAY  AND  THE  CALENDAR 

I  CAME  across  a  discussion  the  other  day  as  to  whether 
it  is  right  to  tell  children  and  to  let  them  believe  that 
Santa  Claus  puts  Christmas  presents  in  their  stockings, 
and  that  Peter  Pan  really  comes  in  at  the  window  and 
teaches  nice  little  boys  and  girls  to  float  through  the  air. 
I  was  surprised  that  anyone  should  be  so  singularly 
ignorant  of  child-nature  as  to  hold  that  children  really 
believe  these  things.  Children  have  a  wonderful  and 
special  faculty  of  "  make-believe  "  which  is  not  the  same 
as  "  belief."  All  the  time  when  a  child  is  indulging  in 
"make-believe"  (a  sort  of  willing  self-illusion  or  waking 
dream)  its  real,  though  tender,  reasoning-power  is  merely 
"  suspended/'  and  is  not  offended  or  outraged.  That 
power  can  on  emergency  be  brought  to  the  front,  and  the 
little  one  will  say,  "  Of  course,  they're  not  real,"  or,  "  I 
always  knew  he  didn't  really  come  down  the  chimney." 
So  that  I  do  not  think  anyone  need  be  anxious  as  to 
doing  harm  or  laying  the  foundations  of  future  distrust  by 
telling  fairy-tales  to  the  very  young.  If  told  in  the  right 
form  and  spirit  they  are  received  by  six-year-old  and  older 
children  readily  and  naturally  as  belonging  to  that  deli- 
cious world  of  "  make-believe "  which  (as  one  of  their 
own  orators,  I  believe,  has  said)  "  children  of  even  the 
meanest  intelligence  will  not  be  guilty  of  confounding 
with  that  very  inferior  every-day  world  of  reality  in  which 


MAKE-BELIEVE    AND    NEW    YEAR        257 

we  find,  much  to  our  regret,  that  it  is  necessary  to  spend 
so  large  a  part  of  our  time."  The  power  of  make-believe 
is  almost  limitless,  and  makes  its  appearance  even  in  the 
speechless  infant  of  less  than  two  years  old,  who  will 
gather  fruit  from  a  coloured  picture,  generously  offer  you 
a  bite,  and  pretend  to  swallow  the  rest  itself.  Make-believe 
must  have  been  a  very  big  factor  in  the  life  of  the  ape-like 
predecessors  of  prehistoric  man. 

Deception  in  the  world  of  reality  is  very  different  from 
make-believe,  and  a  terrible  thing.  To  the  child — decep- 
tion in  regard  to  real  things,  whatever  excuses  adults  may 
put  forward  in  its  defence,  is  well-nigh  unforgivable.  To 
be  one  who  never  says  "it  is"  when  it  is  not,  nor  "it 
will  be  "  when  it  will  not  be — that  is  to  be  a  friend  on 
whom  a  child  rests  in  perfect  trust  and  happiness. 

What  have  these  thoughts  to  do  with  the  New  Year  ? 
Merely  this,  that  it  is  not  only  with  and  for  children  that 
we  make-believe  at  this  season — we  all  of  us,  more  or 
less,  indulge  in  a  make-believe  about  the  New  Year.  As 
the  clock  strikes  its  twelve  notes  at  midnight  on  December 
31st,  and  all  the  bells  of  a  great  city  are  heard  hovering  in 
the  air,  sending  forth  their  sweet  sounds  from  far  and  near 
into  the  fateful  night,  there  are  few  of  us  who  have  not  a 
feeling  that  a  great  event  has  occurred.  A  physical  change 
has  set  in — the  Old  Year  is  dead  and  gone,  and  the  New 
year,  something  tangible,  which  you  can  let  in  at  the  door  or 
the  window — has  just  come  into  being,  and  is  there  waiting 
for  us.  We  are,  of  course,  indulging  in  "make-believe," 
for  there  is  no  New  Year,  with  any  natural,  noteworthy 
thing  to  mark  its  commencement,  starting  at  midnight  on 
December  3ist.  New  Years  begin  every  day  and  hour, 
and  it  is  by  no  means  agreed  upon  by  all  nations  of  the 
earth  to  pretend  that  the  ist  of  January  is  the  critical  day 
which  we  must  regard  as  that  portentous  epoch,  the  begin- 
ning of  the  New  Year.  This  choice  of  a  day  was  made  by  the 

17 


258    NEW  YEAR'S  DAY  AND  THE  CALENDAR 

Romans,  and  that  wonderful  man  Julius  Caesar  had  a 
great  deal  to  do  with  it ;  modern  Europe  adopted  his 
arrangement  of  the  year  or  calendar.  But  the  Jews  have 
their  own  calendar  and  their  own  New  Year's  Day,  which 
varies  from  year  to  year  from  our  September  5th  to  our 
October  7th.  It  is,  however,  to  them  always  the  first 
day  of  the  month  Tishri,  and  the  first  day  of  their  new 
year.  The  Mahomedans  took  the  date  of  the  flight  of 
Mohammed  from  Mecca  to  Medina — the  night  of  July 
I5th,  622  A.D. — as  the  commencement  of  their  "era," 
and  its  anniversary  is  the  first  day  of  their  month  Muhar- 
ram  and  the  first  day  of  their  year — their  New  Year's 
Day.  As,  although  they  reckon  twelve  months  to  the 
year,  their  months  are  true  lunar  months,  and  are  not 
corrected  as  are  those  in  use  by  us  (as  I  will  explain 
below),  their  year  consists  of  354  days  8  hours,  and  so 
does  not  run  parallel  to  our  year  at  all.  Their  New 
Year's  Day,  which  began  by  being  our  July  i6th,  was  in 
the  next  year  coincident  with  our  July  6th,  then  in  three 
successive  years  it  occurred  on  different  days  of  June, 
and  so  on  through  May,  April,  and  the  preceding  months, 
so  that  in  thirty-two  and  a  half  of  our  years  their  New 
Year's  Day  has  run  through  all  our  months  and  comes 
back  again  to  July. 

So  much  for  New  Year's  Days  ;  they  are  arbitrary  selec- 
tions, and  though  the  Roman  New  Year's  Day,  or  January 
ist,  has  been  precisely  defined  and  fixed  by  the  determina- 
tion by  astronomers  of  the  position  of  the  earth  on  that 
day  in  its  revolution  around  the  sun,  yet  the  original  selec- 
tion of  January  ist  for  the  beginning  of  the  year  seems  to 
have  been  merely  the  result  of  previous  errors  and  negli- 
gence in  attempting  to  fix  the  winter  solstice  (which  now 
comes  out  as  December  22nd).  This  is  the  day  when  the 
sun  is  lowest  and  the  day  shortest;  after  it  has  passed 
the  sun  appears  gradually  to  acquire  a  new  power,  and 


DIVISIONS    OF    TIME  259 

increases  the  duration  of  his  stay  above  the  horizon  until 
the  longest  day  is  reached — the  summer  solstice  (June 
2 ist).  Julius  Caesar  took  January  ist  for  New  Year's  Day 
as  being  the  first  day  of  a  month  nearest  to  the  winter 
solstice.  The  ancient  Greeks  regarded  the  beginning  of 
September  as  "  New  Year." 

Were  mankind  content  with  the  measure  of  time  by  the 
completion  of  a  cycle  of  revolution  of  the  earth  around  the 
sun — that  is  the  year  —  and  by  the  revolution  of  the  earth 
on  its  own  axis— that  is  the  day  or  day-night  (wxQqpfyov) 
of  the  Greeks — the  notation  of  time  and  of  seasons 
would  be  comparatively  simple.  No  one  seems  to  know 
why  or  when  the  day  was  first  divided  into  twenty-four 
hours,  nor  why  sixty  minutes  were  taken  in  the  hour  and 
sixty  seconds  in  the  minute.  The  ancient  astronomers  of 
Egypt  and  China,  and  their  beliefs  in  mystical  numbers, 
have  to  do  with  the  first  choosing  of  these  intervals  in  un- 
recorded ages  of  antiquity  (as  much  as  2000  or  3000  B.C.). 
The  seven  days  of  the  week  correspond  to  the  five 
planets  known  to  the  ancients,  with  the  addition  of  the 
sun  and  the  moon.  But  the  Greeks  made  three  weeks 
of  ten  days  each  in  a  month.  The  true  year — the  exact 
period  of  a  complete  revolution  of  the  earth  around  the 
sun — is  365  days  5  hours  18  minutes  and  46  seconds. 
It  was  measured  with  a  fair  amount  of  accuracy  by  very 
ancient  races  of  men,  who  fixed  the  position  of  the  rising 
sun  at  the  longest  day  by  erecting  big  stones,  one  close 
at  hand  and  one  at  a  distance,  so  as  to  give  a  line 
pointing  exactly  to  the  rising  spot  of  the  sun  on  the 
horizon,  as  at  Stonehenge.  They  recorded  the  number  of 
days  which  elapsed  before  the  longest  day  again  appeared, 
and  they  marked  also  the  division  of  that  period  by  the 
two  events  of  equally  long  sunlight  and  darkness— the 
spring  and  the  autumn  "equinox."  It  is  obvious  that  if 
they  took  365  days  roughly  as  the  period  of  revolution 


260    NEW  YEAR'S  DAY  AND  THE  CALENDAR 

they  would  (owing  to  the  odd  hours  and  minutes  left 
out)  get  about  a  day  wrong  in  four  years,  and  it  was  the 
business  of  the  priests — even  in  ancient  Rome  the 
pontiffs  were  charged  with  this  duty — to  make  the  cor- 
rection, add  the  missing  day,  and  proclaim  the  chief 
days  of  the  year — the  shortest  day,  the  longest  day,  and 
the  equinox-days  of  equal  halves  of  sunshine  and  dark- 
ness. In  ancient  China,  if  the  State  astronomer  made 
a  wrong  calculation  in  predicting  an  eclipse  he  was 
decapitated. 

It  is  easy  to  understand  how  it  became  desirable  to 
recognise  more  convenient  divisions  of  the  year  than  the 
four  quarters  marked  by  the  solstices  and  the  equinoxes. 
Various  astronomical  events  were  studied,  and  their  regular 
recurrence    ascertained,    and    they   were    used    for   this 
purpose.     But   the   most  obvious  natural   timekeeper  to 
make  use  of,  besides  the  sun,  was  the  moon.     The  moon 
completes  its  cycle  of  change  on  the  average  in  29^  days. 
It  was  used  by  every  man  to  mark  the  passage  of  the  year, 
and  its  periods  from  new  moon  to  new  moon  were  called, 
as  in  our  language,  "  months  "   or  "  moons,"  and  divided 
into   quarters.      It   is,   however,   an   awkward   fact   that 
twelve  lunar  months   give   354  days,  so  that   there  are 
eleven  days  left  over  when  the  solar  year  is  divided  into 
lunar   months.     The   attempt   to  invent  and   cause   the 
adoption  of  a  system  which  shall  regularly  mark  out  the  year 
into  the  popular  and  universally  recognised  "  moons,"  and 
yet  shall  not  make  the  year  itself,  so  built  up,  of  a  length 
which  does  not  agree  with  the  true  year  recorded   by  the 
return  of  the  rising  sun  to  exactly  the  same  spot  on  the 
horizon  after  365  days  and  a  few  hours,  has  been  through- 
out all   the   history  of  civilised    man,  and   even  among 
prehistoric  peoples,  a  matter  of  difficulty.     It  has  led  to 
the  most  varied  and  ingenious  systems,  entrusted  to  the 
most  learned  priests  and  state  officers,  and  mostly  so  com- 


THE  DIFFICULTIES   OF   THE    CALENDAR  261 

plicated  as  to  break  down  in  the  working,  until  we  come 
to  the  great  clear-headed  man  Julius  Caesar. 

In  the  very  earliest  times  of  the  city  of  Rome  the 
solar  year,  or  complete  cycle  of  the  seasons,  was  divided 
into  ten  lunar  months  covering  304  days,  and  it  is  not 
known  how  the  remaining  days  necessary  to  complete  the 
solar  revolution  were  dealt  with,  or  disposed  of.  The 
year  was  considered  to  commence  with  March,  probably 
with  the  intention  of  getting  New  Year's  Day  near  to  the 
spring  equinox.  The  Celtic  people  and  the  Druids,  with 
their  mistletoe  rites,  kept  New  Year  also  at  that  time. 
The  ten  Roman  months  were  named  Martins,  Aprilus, 
Maius,  Junius,  Quintilis,  Sextilis,  September,  October, 
November,  December.  In  the  reign  of  the  King  Numa 
two  months  were  added  to  the  year — namely,  Januarius  at 
the  beginning  and  Februarius  at  the  end.  In  452  B.C. 
February  was  removed  from  the  end  and  given  second 
place.  The  Romans  thus  arranged  twelve  months  into 
the  year,  as  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  the  Greeks  had 
long  before  done.  The  months  were  made  by  law  to 
consist  alternately  of  twenty-nine  and  of  thirty  days  (thus 
keeping  near  to  the  average  length  of  a  true  lunar  cycle), 
and  an  odd  day  was  thrown  in  for  luck,  making  the  year 
to  consist  of  355  days.  This,  of  course,  differs  from  the 
solar  year  by  ten  days  and  a  bit.  To  make  the  solar  year 
and  the  civil  or  calendar  year  coincide  as  nearly  as  might 
be  Numa  ordered  that  a  special  or  "  intercalary  "  month 
should  be  inserted  every  second  year  between  February  23rd 
and  24th.  It  was  called  "  Mercedonius,"  and  consisted  of 
twenty-two  and  of  twenty-three  days  alternately,  so  that 
four  years  contained  1465  days,  giving  a  mean  of  366^ 
days  to  each  year.  But  this  gave  nearly  a  day  too  much 
in  each  year  of  the  calendar  (as  the  legal  or  civil  year 
is  called)  as  compared  with  the  true  solar  year,  agree- 
ment with  which  was  the  object  in  view.  So  another  law 


262  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY  AND  THE  CALENDAR 

was  made  to  reduce  the  excess  of  days  in  every  twenty-four 
years.  Obviously  the  superintendence  of  these  variations, 
and  the  public  declaration  of  the  calendar  for  each  year, 
w'as  a  very  serious  and  important  task,  affecting  all  kinds 
of  legal  contracts.  The  pontiffs  to  whom  the  duty  was 
assigned  abused  their  power  for  political  ends,  and  so 
little  care  had  they  taken  to  regulate  the  civil  year  and 
keep  it  in  coincidence  with  the  solar  year  that  in  the  time 
of  Julius  Caesar  the  civil  equinox  differed  from  the 
astronomical  by  three,  months,  the  real  spring  equinox 
occurring,  not  at  the  end  of  what  was  called  March  by 
the  calendar,  but  in  June ! 

Julius  Csesar  took  the  matter  in  hand  and  put  things 
into  better  order.  He  abolished  all  attempt  to  record  by 
the  calendar  a  lunar  year  of  twelve  lunar  months ;  he 
fixed  the  length  of  the  civil  year  to  agree  as  near  as  might 
be  with  that  of  the  solar  year,  and  arbitrarily  altered  the 
months  ;  in  fact,  abandoned  the  "  lunar  month  "  and 
instituted  the  "  calendar  month."  Thus  he  decreed  that 
the  ordinary  year  should  be  365  days,  but  that  every  fourth 
year  (which,  for  some  perverse  reason,  we  call  "leap" 
year)  should  have  an  extra  day.  He  ordered  that  the 
alternate  months,  from  January  to  November  inclusive, 
should  have  thirty-one  days  and  the  others  thirty  days, 
excepting  February,  which  was  to  have  in  common  years 
twenty-nine,  but  in  every  fourth  year  (our  leap  year) 
thirty.  This  perfectly  reasonable,  though  arbitrary, 
definition  of  the  months  was  accompanied  by  the  altera- 
tion of  the  name  of  the  month  Quintilus  to  Julius,  in 
honour  of  the  great  man.  Later  Augustus  had  the  name 
of  the  month  Sextilis  altered  to  Augustus  for  his  own 
glorification,  and  in  order  to  gratify  his  vanity  a  law 
was  passed  taking  away  a  day  from  February  and  putting 
it  on  to  August,  so  that  August  might  have  thirty-one 
days  as  well  as  July,  and  not  the  inferior  total  of  thirty 


POPE    GREGORY'S    TEN    DAYS  263 

previously  assigned  to  it !  At  the  same  time,  so  that 
three  months  of  thirty-one  days  might  not  come  together, 
September  and  November  were  reduced  to  thirty  days,  and 
thirty-one  given  to  October  and  December.  In  order 
to  get  everything  into  order  and  start  fair  Julius  Caesar 
restored  the  spring  equinox  to  March  25th  (Numa's  date 
for  it,  but  really  four  days  late).  For  this  purpose  he 
ordered  two  extraordinary  months,  as  well  as  Numa's 
intercalary  month  Mercedonius,  to  be  inserted  in  the  year 
47  B.C.,  giving  that  year  in  all  445  days.  It  was  called 
"  the  last  year  of  confusion."  January  ist,  forty-six  years 
before  the  birth  of  Christ  and  the  7o8th  since  the  founda- 
tion of  the  city,  was  the  first  day  of  "  the  first  Julian  year." 
Although  Julius  Caesar's  correction  and  his  provisions 
for  keeping  the  "civil  "  year  coincident  with  the  astrono- 
mical year  were  admirable,  yet  they  were  not  perfect.  His 
astronomer,  by  name.  Sosigenes,  did  his  best,  but  assumed 
the  astronomical  year  to  be  n  min.  14  sec.  longer  than  it 
really  is.  In  400  years  this  amounts  to  an  error  of  three 
days.  The  increasing  disagreement  of  the  "  civil "  and 
the  "  real  "  equinox  was  noticed  by  learned  men  in  succes- 
sive centuries.  At  last,  in  A.D.  1582,  it  was  found  that  the 
real  astronomical  equinox,  which  was  supposed  to  occur  on 
March  25th,  when  Julius  Caesar  introduced  his  calendar 
(not  on  March  2ist,  as  was  later  discovered  to  be  the 
fact),  had  retrograded  towards  the  beginning  of  the  civil 
year,  so  that  it  coincided  with  March  nth  of  the  calendar. 
In  order  to  restore  the  equinox  to  its  proper  place 
(March  2ist),  Pope  Gregory  XIII  directed  ten  days  to  be 
suppressed  in  the  calendar — of  that  year — and  to  prevent 
things  going  wrong  again  it  was  enacted  that  leap-year 
day  shall  not  be  reckoned  in  those  centenary  years  which 
are  not  multiples  of  400.  Thus  Pope  Gregory  got  rid 
of  three  days  out  of  the  Julian  calendar,  or  civil  year,  in 
every  400  years,  since  1600  was  retained  as  a  leap-year, 


264  NEW  YEAR'S  DAY  AND  THE  CALENDAR 

but  1700,  1880  and  1900,  though  according  to  the  former 
law  leap-years,  were  made  common  years,  whilst  2000 
will  be  a  leap-year.  In  order  to  correct  a  further  minute 
error,  namely,  the  fact  that  the  calendar  year  as  now 
amended  is  26  sec.  longer  than  the  true  solar  year,  it  is 
proposed  that  the  year  4000  and  all  its  multiples  shall  be 
common  years,  and  not  leap  years.  This  is  a  matter 
which,  though  practical,  is  of  distinctly  remote  im- 
portance. Some  people  like  to  look  well  ahead. 

The  alteration  in  the  calendar  made  by  Pope  Gregory 
was  successfully  opposed  for  a  long  time  in  Great  Britain 
by  popular  prejudice.  It  was  called  "  new  style,"  and 
was  at  last  accepted,  as  in  other  European  countries,  but 
has  never  been  adopted  in  Russia,  which  retains  the  "  old 
style."  An  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  in  1751  order- 
ing that  the  day  following  September  2nd,  1752,  should 
be  accounted  the  fourteenth  of  that  month.  Many  people 
thought  that  they  had  been  cheated  out  of  eleven  days  of 
life,  and  there  were  serious  riots  !  The  change  had  been 
already  made  in  Scotland  in  the  year  1600  without  much 
outcry.  The  Scotch  were  either  too  "  canny  "  or  too  dull 
to  "  fash  "  themselves  about  it. 

Let  us  now  revert  for  a  moment  to  the  proceedings  of 
Oriental  potentates  in  regard  to  astronomers,  a  class  of 
scientific  functionaries  whom  they  have  from  remote  ages 
been  in  the  habit  of  employing.  It  appears  that  in  China 
there  is  no  attempt  to  make  the  civil  year  or  year  of  the 
calendar  coincide  with  the  astronomical  year.  The  astro- 
nomical year  is  reckoned  as  beginning  when  the  sun  enters 
Capricorn,  our  winter  solstice,  and  is  thus  more  reason- 
ably defined  than  is  the  commencement  of  our  New  Year, 
which  is  nine  days  late.  Twelve  months  are  recognised  ; 
the  first  is  called  Tzu,  the  second  Chou,  and  the  third 
Yin,  and  the  rest  respectively  Mao,  Chen,  Su,  Wu,  Wei, 
Shen,  Yu,  Hsu,  Hai.  But  the  calendar  year,  on  the  other 


THE  ASTRONOMER  ROYAL  AND  THE  SHAH  265 

hand,  begins  just  when  the  Emperor  chooses  to  say  it 
shall.  He  is  like  the  captain  of  a  ship,  who  says  of  the 
hour,  "  Make  it  so,"  and  it  is  so.  With  great  ceremony 
he  issues  a  calendar  ten  months  in  advance,  fixing  as  he 
pleases  all  the  important  festive  and  lucky  days  of  the 
year.  Various  emperors  have  made  New  Year's  Day  in 
the  fourth,  third,  second,  first,  or  twelfth  month.  It  has 
now  been  fixed  for  many  centuries  in  the  second  astro- 
nomical month.  I  have  mentioned  above  that  the  ancient 
Greeks  reckoned  the  New  Year  as  beginning  about  the 
end  of  September.  But  the  reckoning  differed  in  the 
different  States,  and  so  did  the  names  of  the  months. 
Although  the  Greek  astronomers  determined  the  real  solar 
year  with  remarkable  accuracy,  and  proposed  very  clever 
modes  of  correcting  the  calendar  so  as  to  use  the  lunar 
months  in  reckoning,  there  was  no  general  system 
adopted,  no  agreement  among  the  "  home-ruling  "  States. 
I  have  stated  above  that  the  official  Chinese  astronomers 
sometimes  get  their  heads  cut  off  for  not  correctly  fore- 
telling an  eclipse.  Illustrating  this  there  is  the  following 
story  of  a  visit  paid  about  forty  years  ago  to  the  Observa- 
tory in  Greenwich  Park  by  the  Shah  of  Persia  of  that 
date.  The  Persians  have  many  close  links  with  the 
Chinese,  and  share  their  view  of  astronomy  as  a  sort  of 
State  function,  in  which  the  Emperor  has  special  authority. 
The  Shah  accordingly  made  a  great  point  of  visiting  the 
British  State  observatory,  in  company  with  King  Edward, 
who  was  then  Prince  of  Wales.  Sir  George  Airy  was  the 
Astronomer  Royal,  and  showed  the  party  over  the  build- 
ing and  gave  them  peeps  through  telescopes.  "  Now  show 
me  an  eclipse  of  the  sun,"  said  the  Shah,  speaking  in 
French.  Sir  George  pretended  not  to  hear,  and  led  the 
way  to  another  instrument.  "  Dog  of  an  astronomer," 
said  the  Shah,  "  produce  me  an  eclipse  !  "  Sir  George 
politely  said  he  had  not  got  one  and  could  not  oblige  the 


266  NEW  YEAR  S  DAY  AND  THE  CALENDAR 

King  of  Kings.  "  Ho,  ho !  "  said  the  Shah,  turning  in 
great  indignation  to  the  Prince  of  Wales.  "You  hear! 
cut  his  head  off!  "  Sir  George's  life  was,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  spared,  but  in  the  course  of  a  year  he  retired,  and 
was  succeeded  by  another  Astronomer  Royal.  On  his 
appointment  that  gentleman  was  astonished  at  receiving  a 
letter  of  congratulation  from  the  Shah  of  Persia.  The 
Shah  evidently  thought  that  his  blood-thirsty  request  had 
been  attended  to,  though  with  some  delay.  He  proceeded 
to  tell  the  new  Astronomer  Royal  that  he  had  a  few  days 
before  writing  witnessed  a  total  eclipse  of  the  sun  in  the 
observatory  at  Teheran.  This  was  perfectly  correct.  The 
suggestion  was  that  the  Teheran  astronomers  knew  their 
business,  and  had  the  good  sense  to  arrange  an  eclipse 
when  a  Royal  visitor  wished  for  one,  and  so  escape 
decapitation — a  course  which  the  kindly  Shah  evidently 
wished  to  indicate  to  the  new  and  young  Astronomer  Royal 
as  that  which  he  should  pursue  in  order  to  avoid  the  fate 
of  his  unhappy  and  obstinate  predecessor.  The  attitude 
of  the  Shah  towards  science  is  one  which  is  not  altogether 
unknown  in  this  country. 


CHAPTER   XXI 
EASTERTIDE,    SHAMROCKS    AND    SPERMACETI 

MOST  people  think  of  Easter  as  a  Christian  festival, 
but  it  is  really  in  name  and  origin  a  pagan  one. 
The  word  "  Easter  "  is  the  modern  form  of  "  Eastra,"  the 
name  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  goddess  of  spring  (in  primitive 
Germanic,  "  Austro  ").  The  Germans,  like  ourselves,  keep 
its  true  pagan  name,  "  Ostern."  The  Latin  nations  use 
for  Easter  the  word  Pascha  (French,  Paque),  the  Greek 
form  of  the  Jewish  name  for  the  feast  of  the  Passover, 
with  which  it  is  historically  associated  by  the  Christian 
Church.  Terrible  quarrels  have  occurred  in  early  ages 
over  fixing  Easter  Day  and  its  exact  relation  to  the 
Jewish  calendar.  This  is  the  explanation  of  its  being 
"  a  movable  feast "  and  of  the  consequent  inconvenience 
to  Parliament,  schoolboys,  and  Bank-holiday-makers  at 
the  present  day.  It  must  be  admitted  that  when  Easter 
comes  as  early  as  it  sometimes  does  those  who  have  but 
the  short  spring  holiday  of  the  Easter  week-end  are 
hardly  used.  Instead  of  enjoying  the  sunny  spring 
weather  of  Austro,  and  the  flowers  and  the  bursting  buds 
which  an  Easter  at  the  end  of  April  often  gives,  they 
have  to  put  up  with  the  dreary  chill  of  arid  March,  and 
this,  absurdly  enough,  is  all  on  account  of  a  mistaken 
attempt  at  accuracy  made  by  the  Church  some  sixteen 
hundred  or  more  years  ago  in  trying  to  bring  the 
Christian  festival  into  line  with  the  Jewish  Passover.  If 


268  EASTERTIDE,  SHAMROCKS,  SPERMACETI 

it  were  desired  to  celebrate  the  Feast  of  the  Resurrection 
each  year  on  the  day  corresponding  astronomically  with 
that  indicated  in  the  Gospels,  the  Astronomer  Royal 
would  have  no  difficulty  in  exactly  fixing  the  day,  making 
due  allowance  for  the  changes  of  the  calendar  and  for  the 
irregularities  of  the  Jewish  year.  I  do  not  know  what 
day  in  what  month  such  a  calculation  would  finally 
establish  as  that  of  the  ecclesiastical  festival,  but  the 
Bank  Holiday  and  the  Anglo-Saxon  Easter  might  be 
dealt  with  separately,  and  assigned,  once  for  all,  to  the 
end  of  April,  the  real  "  opening "  or  spring  month. 

The  yellow  "  tansy  cakes  "  which  used  to  be,  and  the 
coloured  eggs  which  still  are,  given  away  at  Easter, 
throughout  Europe,  are  not  of  Christian  origin,  but 
belong  to  the  Roman  celebration  (at  the  same  season, 
viz.,  April  I2th  to  I  5th)  of  the  goddess  of  Plenty — Ceres. 
Eggs  are  the  symbols  of  fecundity  and  the  renewal  of 
life  in  the  spring.  They  were  decorated  and  given  in 
baskets  by  rich  Romans  to  their  friends  and  dependents 
at  this  season.  "  Hot-cross  buns  "  are  peculiar  to  England, 
and  no  doubt  have  a  Christian  significance.  They  have 
not  survived  in  Scotland,  although  Easter  eggs  are  well 
known  there  (sometimes  they  are  called  "  pace-eggs "), 
nor  on  the  Continent,  where  "  Pascal  eggs  "  are  an  insti- 
tution. "  Buns  "  owe  their  name  to  the  old  Norse  word 
"  bunga,"  a  convexity  or  round  lump,  preserved  also  in 
our  words  "  bunion  "  and  "bung."  In  Norman  French  it 
became  "  bonne,"  and  in  the  fourteenth  century  was  applied 
to  the  round  loaf  of  bread  given  to  a  horse  ;  the  loaf  was 
called  Bayard's  bonne  (pronounced  "  bun ").  In  some 
parts  of  England  a  "bunny"  still  means  a  swelling  clue 
to  a  blow. 

The  April  fish,  the  "  poisson  d'Avril,"  is  the  polite 
French  term  for  what  we  call  an  "  April  fool."  But  why 
a  fish  is  introduced  in  this  connection  I  am  unable  to 


THE    REAL    SHAMROCK  269 

say.  The  custom  of  sending  people  on  fool's  errands  on 
the  First  of  April  is  probably  due  to  the  change  of  the 
calendar  in  France  in  1564  ;  but  there  is  a  Hindoo  feast 
on  March  3ist,  when  similar  jokes  are  perpetrated.  It  is 
called  "  Huli,"  which,  in  accordance  with  phonetic  laws, 
readily  becomes  "  Fooli."  This  is  probably  only  a 
coincidence. 

A  curious  Easter  custom  in  country  districts  in  England 
used  to  be  (perhaps  still  is)  that  called  "  lifting "  or 
"heaving."  On  Easter  Monday  two  men  will  join  hands 
so  as  to  form  a  seat  ;  their  companions  then  "  by  right 
of  custom  "  compel  the  women  they  may  meet  to  sit,  one 
after  the  other,  on  the  improvised  throne  and  be  lifted  or 
heaved  as  high  as  may  be.  On  Easter  Tuesday  the 
women  perform  the  same  rite  upon  the  men.  Strangers 
thus  assailed  have  been  much  disconcerted  and  have 
recorded  their  astonishment  in  "  notes  of  travel."  The 
custom  is  said  to  be  a  popular  degeneration  of  the  cele- 
bration of  the  Resurrection. 

An  early  Easter  falls  little  in  advance  of  St.  Patrick's 
Day,  when  there  is  much  "  wearing  of  the  green  "  and 
questioning  as  to  what  plant  is  "  the  real  shamrock." 
This  matter  has  become  so  involved  and  developed  by 
wild  enthusiasm,  ignorance,  and  false  sentiment  that  it  is 
difficult  to  deal  with  it.  A  distinguished  Irishman  once 
showed  me  the  "  shamrock  "  he  was  wearing  in  his  button- 
hole as  "  the  true  "  plant  of  that  name.  He  assured  me 
that  he  had  studied  the  subject  from  boyhood  and  knew 
well  the  true  and  the  false.  "  What  is  its  flower  like  ?  " 
I  asked  him.  "It  never  has  a  flower  at  all,"  he  said. 
Another  injustice  to  Ireland,  one  must  suppose,  or  a 
miracle  of  St.  Patrick's  !  His  "  green  "  was  a  bit  of  the 
small  variety  of  the  common  clover,  Trifolium  repens 
which,  of  course,  produces  the  usual  tuft  of  florets  or 


270  EASTERTIDE,  SHAMROCKS,  SPERMACETI 

clover-head.  It  is  true  that  this  plant  has  now  been 
vulgarly  substituted  for  St.  Patrick's  shamrock.  The 
shamrock  is  not  really  the  common  clover  nor  any  variety 
of  it.  The  common  Dutch  clover  and  its  varieties  were 
introduced  into  Ireland  two  hundred  years  ago  from 
England  and  are  not  Irish  at  all !  The  true  shamrock  is 
the  delicate  liitle  wood-sorrel,  Oxalis  acetosella,  which 
has  a  beautifully  formed  three-split  or  trefoil  leaf  of  the 
most  vivid  green  colour,  and  a  white  flower  like  that  of  a 
geranium.  It  is  called  "  fairy-bell  "  by  the  Welsh,  and 
was  believed  to  ring  chimes  for  the  elfin  folk.  It  was 
also  greatly  esteemed  for  its  acid  flavour  and  for  various 
reputed  medicinal  and  magical  properties  by  the  Druids 
and  among  the  early  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  Pliny  says  it  never  shelters  a  snake,  and  is  an 
antidote  to  the  poison  of  serpents  and  scorpions — a  good 
reason  for  its  association  with  St.  Patrick  !  It  had  already 
a  reputation  and  sanctity  when,  if  tradition  be  true,  St. 
Patrick  used  its  threefold  leaf  to  symbolise  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity. 

It  is  much  rarer  to  find  the  wood-sorrel  trefoil  with  a 
fourth  leaflet  than  it  is  to  find  the  clover  trefoil  so  provided. 
The  two  plants  belong  to  families  widely  separated  from 
one  another.  The  ancient  architectural  decoration  of 
trefoil  carving,  and  also  the  heraldic  shamrock  in  the 
arms  of  the  United  Kingdom,  represent  the  leaf  of  the 
wood-sorrel,  and  not  that  of  the  clover.  No  doubt  there 
has  been  some  sentimental  intention  in  putting  forward 
the  humble,  abundant,  down-trodden  dwarf-clover,  the 
very  sod  itself  of  Ireland  (really  introduced  from  England) 
as  "  the  shamrock  !  "  But,  as  often  happens  in  such  cases, 
truth  and  the  ancient  and  honourable  tradition  of  a  beau- 
tiful thing  have  been  wantonly  disregarded  in  order  to  do 
business  in  cheap  sentiment.  Traders  are  always  ready 
to  take  advantage  of  an  ignorant  public.  Common  sprats 


SHAM    SHAMROCK  271 

are  called  "  sardines,''  the  name  of  another  and  rarer  fish,  in 
order  to  conceal  the  fact  that  they  are  sprats  :  clarified 
horse  fat  is  called  "  fresh  country  butter,"  and  Irish 
regiments  are  made  to  decorate  themselves  with  common 
clover  under  the  delusion  that  it  is  the  shamrock.  Other 
plants  have  been  from  time  to  time  utilised  to  usurp  the 
title  of  "  shamrock."  Thus  the  small  Lucerne  clover  or 
medicago  is  often  sold  as  "  shamrock  "  to  Irish  patriots, 
and  the  watercress  has  been  solemnly  put  forward  as  the 
true  shamrock  simply  because  old  writers  tell  us,  as  evi- 
dence of  the  barbarous  state  of  the  Irish,  that  they  fed 
upon  shamrocks  and  watercress.  The  true  shamrock 
(the  wood-sorrel)  was  formerly  greatly  valued  all  over 
Europe  as  a  salad  and  a  flavouring  herb  on  account  of  its 
leaves  containing  oxalic  acid.  It  was  used  for  the  manu- 
facture of  oxalic  acid,  which  was  sold  as  "  salts  of  lemons  " 
for  removing  iron-mould.  It  was  the  basis  of  the  soup 
and  of  the  green  sauce  for  fish,  in  which  the  dock-sorrel 
(Rumex)  has  now  taken  its  place.  The  name  "  shamrock  " 
is  an  old  Irish  word,  written  "  seamrag,"  and  means  a 
little  "  trefoil."  Curiously  enough  there  appears  to  be 
an  Oriental  word,  "  shamrakh,"  which  I  am  told  is  of 
Arabic  origin,  and  also  means  a  trefoil.  In  English 
writers  from  the  seventeenth  century  onwards  the  Irish 
shamrock  is  variously  written  of  as  "  shamroots,  "  shame- 
rags  "  (this  and  the  next  following  with  hostile  intent), 
"  shame-rogues,"  sham-brogues,"  and  "  sham-rug." 

I  am  sorry  to  say  that  Shakespeare  does  not  mention 
the  shamrock  at  all.  No  Irishman  who  knows  the  little 
oxalis  or  wood-sorrel  could  wish  for  a  more  beautiful  floral 
emblem  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  or  dream  of  letting  the  vulgar 
Saxon  intruder — the  dwarf  clover — take  its  place.  Perhaps 
it  is  the  Ulstermen  who  have  set  up  the  foreign  "  Dutch  " 
cover  to  replace  the  true  shamrock,  the  wood-sorrell, 
These  changes  are  easily  made.  For  instance,  "green  "  is 


272     EASTERTIDE,  SHAMROCKS,  SPERMACETI 

not  the  original  national  colour  of  Ireland,  but   light   blue 
— Cambridge  blue  ! 

This  chapter  is  one  of  varied  material,  and  I  now  pass 
abruptly  from  fresh  emerald  leaflets  to  the  waxy  crystals 
stewed  out  of  the  fat  of  a  monster's  head.  There  has 
seldom  been  a  controversy  so  entertaining  as  that  between 
Dr.  Bode  (the  talented  director  of  the  Art  Gallery  of 
Berlin)  and  his  opponents,  in  regard  to  the  age  of  the  wax- 
bust  which  he  purchased  not  long  ago  for  ^8000  in  Bond- 
street  in  the  belief  that  it  was  the  work  of  Leonardo  da 
Vinci.  Science  has  had  its  share  in  the  examination  of 
the  bust.  The  last  scientific  contribution  to  the  matter 
was  the  discovery  by  an  analytical  chemist,  Dr.  Pinkus, 
that  the  waxy  mixture  of  which  the  bust  is  composed 
consists  in  definite  proportion  of  spermaceti.  Now  since 
spermaceti  was  not  used  before  the  year  1700,  the  bust 
cannot  (say  Dr.  'Bode's  opponents)  have  been  made  by 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  who  died  in  the  early  part  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  "  Nonsense  !  "  reply  Dr.  Bode's  supporters, 
"  Shakespeare  makes  Hotspur  speak  of  '  parmaceti,'  and 
it  was  well  known  to  the  doctors  of  Salerno  in  1 100  A.D., 
and  probably  used  by  the  ancients." 

Nevertheless,  the  opponents  of  Dr.  Bode  are  right.  I 
am  sorry,  because  Dr.  Bode  is,  in  regard  to  "  works  of 
art,"  a  most  able  expert,  and  I  think  it  is  better  that 
experts  should  always  be  right.  Spermaceti  was  known, 
probably  from  classical  times  onwards,  as  a  rare  and 
precious  unguent,  "  resolutive  and  mollifying,"  as  M.  Pomel, 
"  chief  druggist  to  the  late  French  King  Louis  XIV,"  says 
in  his  treatise  on  drugs,  translated  into  English  in  1737. 
It  was  applied  as  a  liniment  for  hardness  of  the  skin  and 
breasts,  and  was  also  taken  internally.  Shakespeare's 
reference  to  it  is  "  parmaceti  for  an  inward  bruise."  The 
fact  is  it  was  known  and  used  in  small  quantity  before 


LEONARDO    OR    LUCAS?  273 

i  700  A.D.  in  connection  with  medicine  and  the  toilet,  but 
was  not  consumed  by  the  thousand  tons  a  year,  as  it  was 
after  the  hunting  of  the  sperm  whale  or  cachalot  (P/iyseter 
mecrocephalus]  had  been  set  a-going  by  the  brave  fisher- 
men of  Nantucket  and  the  Northern  Atlantic  coast  of 
America  in  1690.  In  1730  or  thereabouts  the  English 
and  the  Dutch  also  sent  out  ships  to  take  part  in  this 
perilous  industry,  which  is  now  again,  in  its  dwindled  con- 
dition, exclusively  American.  It  is  the  pursuit  of  by  far 
the  biggest  and  fiercest  animal  which  man  has  doomed  to 
extinction.  Those  who  enjoy  such  stories  of  adventure 
should  read  Mr.  Bullen's  personal  narrative,  '  The  Cruise 
of  the  Cachalot.'  It  was  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century  that  spermaceti  became  so  abundant  in  the  market 
that  candles  of  it  were  manufactured  and  sold  cheaper 
than  those  of  wax.  From  about  1860  it  was  superseded 
by  paraffin  and  other  wax-like  products  ;  and  it  was  at  its 
cheapest  period,  and  when  it  was  most  widely  in  use,  that 
Lucas,  the  English  artist,  who  made  many  wax  busts  and 
statuettes,  is  known  to  have  mixed  it,  in  the  form  of  "  old 
candles,"  with  beeswax,  in  order  to  form  the  composition 
which  he  used  in  his  works.  The  evidence  given  by  the 
chemist,  Dr.  Pinkus,  appears  to  me  to  be  conclusive 
(even  without  the  evidence  of  the  old  clothes  stuffed  into 
the  hollow  of  the  bust)  against  the  theory  that  the  Bode 
wax-bust  of  Flora  is  more  ancient  than  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  much  in  favour  of  its  being  the  work  of 
Lucas,  who  is  exceptionally  known  as  a  wax-modeller 
of  repute  sixty  years  ago,  who  did  use  spermaceti. 

Spermaceti  is  a  perfectly  definite  chemical  body,  which 
can  be  recognised  without  chance  of  error.  It  is  a  com- 
bination of  palmitic  acid  and  a  peculiar  hydrocarbon, 
called  (after  the  whale)  "  cetyl,"  and  easily  forms  pure 
crystals.  Before  sperm  whales  were  hunted  it  was  obtained 
in  relatively  small  quantity  from  individual  sperm  whales, 

18 


274    EASTERTIDE,  SHAMROCKS,  SPERMACETI 

which  by  misadventure  landed  themselves  on  the  coast  of 
France,  Spain,  or  Great  Britain,  and  was  eagerly  pur- 
chased by  the  apothecaries  and  perfumers  of  the  great 
cities  of  Europe.  There  are  several  records  of  such 
strange  mistakes  on  the  part  of  the  great  sperm  whale. 
Only  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago  one  was  stranded  on  the 
Lincolnshire  coast,  whilst  the  specimen  exhibited  in  the 
Natural  History  Museum  was  washed  ashore  at  Thurso 
in  Caithness.  The  spermaceti  is  found  dissolved  in  the 
more  ordinary  oil  (or  fat),  which  occupies  a  huge  region 
above  the  bones  of  the  upper  jaw  and  gives  the  sperm 
whale  its  barrel-shaped  head.  It  separates  on  cooling, 
from  the  liquid  oil,  in  crystalline  flakes,  forming  great 
masses,  which  are  purified  by  re-melting  and  cooling.  In 
early  times  the  fine  waxy,  flaky  material  thus  obtained 
was  known  in  samples  of  a  few  ounces,  and  sold  by 
apothecaries.  It  was  known  that  it  came  from  a  whale, 
and  was  believed  to  be  the  seed  or  sperm  of  that  animal, 
hence  its  name  "  spermaceti."  M.  Pomel,  whom  I  cited 
above,  believed  it  to  come  from  the  brain  of  the  whale  called 
"  cachalot."  No  one  would  have  dreamt  in  the  sixteenth 
century  of  mixing  this  precious  stuff  with  beeswax  for 
modelling  purposes.  At  that  date  one  would  as  soon 
have  mixed  amber  with  pitch.  That  reminds  me  that 
"grey  "amber"  or  "ambergris"  is  also  a  product  of  the 
sperm  whale  not  to  be  confounded  with  spermaceti.  It 
is  an  unhealthy  intestinal  concretion  like  bezoar  stones  (see 
p.  94),  only  exceptionally  produced.  It  is  found  floating  in 
the  ocean,  and  is  recognised  as  coming  from  the  cachalot 
owing  to  its  being  largely  made  up  of  the  horny  beaks  of 
cuttle-fish,  upon  which  the  cachalot  feeds.  It  is  still 
used  in  perfumery,  and  fetches  the  extraordinary  price 
of  four  guineas  the  ounce.  A  piece  weighing  4^  oz.  may 
be  seen  in  Cromwell  Road. 

Though    the   oils   (or   fats)  of  plants  and  animals  are 


VARIOUS    FATS 


275 


very  similar  to  one  another  in  appearance,  there  are  a 
very  large  number  of  them  differing  chemically  from  one 
another.  Thus  the  fat  or  oil  of  dozens  of  different  nuts 
and  plant-products  and  of  lower  animals  and  fishes,  and 
of  sheep,  oxen,  pigs,  dogs,  elephants,  and  men  contain 
different  and  special  chemical  substances,  corresponding 
to  the  "  cetyl  "  which  is  present  in  the  fat  of  the  sperm 
whale's  head.  Many  of  them  have  acquired  as  a  result 
of  experience  and  tradition  special  value  for  some  special 
purpose.  Several  oils  have  peculiar  fitness  and  great 
value  for  oiling  delicate  machinery  ;  others  are  used  in 
curing  leather,  for  burning,  and  for  medicinal  ointments, 
whilst  a  large  variety  is  used  as  human  food. 


CHAPTER    XXII 

THE   STRANGE    HISTORY   OF  THE  TADPOLES 
OF    THE   SEA 

THERE  are  many  strange  and  curious  animals  thrown 
up  in  quantities  on  the  seashore  after  storms  which 
an  observant  wanderer  may  pick  up  as  he  strolls  along 
the  sand.  The  subsiding  waves,  one  after  another,  briskly 
flow  to  his  feet,  and  deliver  a  little  sample  of  the  weeds 
and  other  growths  uprooted  in  shallow  depths  beyond  the 
low-tide  mark.  For  the  big  waves  of  a  stormy  sea  are 
not  merely  surface  appearances  ;  they  tear  and  rend  the 
sea  bottom  of  the  shallow  water  beyond  the  line  of 
"  breakers,"  dislodging  all  sorts  of  adherent  animals  from 
the  hidden  rocks,  and  even  turning  over  the  sandy  bottom 
in  which  burrowing  worms,  as  a  rule,  remain  safely  housed, 
but  are  now  carried  helplessly  along  by  the  force  of  the 
deep  hidden  disturbance,  and  thrown  alive  on  to  the 
beach.  Many  a  rare  prize  is  thus  obtained  by  the 
naturalist,  for  the  waves  will  search  and  bring  the  spoil  to 
shore  from  submarine  rock-clefts  and  sand-beds  into 
which  the  "  dredge  "  cannot  penetrate. 

Common  objects  on  the  storm-strewn  shore  are  oval, 
rough,  but  translucent  sacs,  as  big  as  one's  thumb,  colour- 
less and  of  fleshy  texture  (Fig.  31).  Sometimes  they  are 
attached  to  bits  of  weed,  but  usually  are  free,  though 
the  broken  appearance  of  one  end  shows  them  to  have 
been  dislodged  from  attachment  to  rocks  by  the  force  of 


SEA    SQUIRTS  277 

the  recent  storm.  Not  only  are  these  little  sacs  common 
on  the  shore  after  storms,  but  they  are  taken  in  the  oyster- 
dredge  (or  naturalist's  dredge)  by  hundreds.  When  you 
handle  one  of  these  apparently  lifeless  sacs,  you  are  sur- 
prised to  feel  it  give  a  slight  movement  of  its  own,  and  to 
see  a  fine  jet  of  water  issue  from  it.  North-Sea  fisher- 
men, who  come  across  these  and  many  such  creatures, 
have  no  name  for  them,  but  class  them  all  with  supreme 
disgust  as  "  trash."  What  they  want  is  fish,  and  (with 
characteristic  Anglo-Saxon  short-sightedness)  they  ignore 
everything  else.  They  know  next  to  nothing  even  about 


A 

FIG.  31. — Two  kinds  of  Ascidians  or  "sea  squirts"  of  half  the  natural 
size.  A  is  the  kind  known  as  Ascidia  mammillata,  B  is  a  red- 
coloured  species  of  the  genus  Cynthia  allied  to  Ascidia.  It  shows 
on  distinct  prominences  the  mouth  at  the  top  of  the  sac-like  body 
and  the  opening  of  the  peri-branchial  chamber  on  the  right.  Root- 
like  processes  of  the  sac  are  given  off  from  its  lower  end  and 
serve  to  fix  it  to  a  rock  or  stone. 

the  fish  and  bait,  which  are  so  important,  to  them  ;  the 
more  sapient  among  them  declare  the  eggs  of  the  lump- 
sucker  to  be  those  of  the  herring,  and  the  acorn-barnacles 
on  the  tidal  rocks  to  be  the  young  of  the  limpet.  Hence 
they  have  no  name  for  the  little  translucent  sacs  just 
mentioned  ;  but  boys  call  them  "  sea-squirts,"  and  that 
name  has  been  adopted.  Naturalists  call  them  Ascidians. 


278 


TADPOLES    OF   THE   SEA 


The  Neapolitan  fishermen,  unlike  their  northern  brethren, 
have  names  for  several  kinds  of  Ascidians  and  for  a  great 
number  of  the  marine  creatures  of  no  market  value, 
which  they  come  across  in  searching  the  shallow  regions 
of  the  Bay  of  Naples  for  shell-fish. 

If  you  cut  one  of  these  Ascidians  open  with  a  pen-knife 
you  will  find  that  the  sac  is  very  thick  and  tough,  though 
translucent.  Within  it  you  will  see  a  coiled  intestine, 
surrounded  by  reddish-coloured  soft  material.  Careful 


FIG.  32. — A  dissection  of  an  Ascidia.  The  thick-walled  sac  has  been 
cut  all  round  and  half  of  it  removed.  We  see  on  the  left  (at  the  top) 
the  mouth  leading  into  the  enlarged  gullet,  perforated  like  trellis- 
work,  and  from  this  we  trace  the  re-curved  intestine  which  opens 
into  the  peri-branchial  chamber  on  the  right.  This  chamber  itself 
opens  to  the  exterior  by  the  spout-like  process  on  the  right.  Lying 
in  the  chamber  just  above  the  anus  is  a  single  egg.  Above  the  egg 
we  see  a  pale  oblong  body,  pointed  at  each  end.  This  is  the  brain. 
In  the  "  body-cavity  "  around  the  intestine  many  eggs  are  seen,  and 
at  the  lower  end  of  it  a  curved  striped  body  which  is  the  heart. 

dissection  of  the  dead  Ascidian  with  the  aid  of  a  lens  and 
delicate  forceps  and  scissors,  when  it  has  been  pinned  to 
a  leaded  plate  of  cork  in  a  shallow  dish  containing  weak 


THE    ANATOMY    OF    A    SEA    SQUIRT      279 

rectified  spirits  of  wine,  shows  (see  Fig.  32)  that  it  has  a 
complicated  "  anatomy."  At  the  end  of  the  sac  opposite 
to  that  by  which  it  is  attached  in  life  to  stones  or  weeds 
one  detects  the  animal's  mouth,  provided  with  a  fringe  of 
very  small  tentacles.  The  mouth  leads  into  a  large  flat- 
tened chamber,  extending  through  three  fourths  of  the  sac. 
Its  wall  looks  like  a  piece  of  gauze,  perforated  with  rows 
of  innumerable  fine  holes.  This  is  the  enlarged  gullet  of 
the  Ascidian,  and  the  sea-water  which  enters  the  mouth 
is  forced  by  the  lashing  of  microscopic  whips  (called 
"  cilia ")  to  stream  through  the  fine  holes  which  they 
fringe  into  an  equally  large  flattened  chamber  lying  over 
the  gullet.  This  second  chamber  is  provided  on  one  side 
(not  far  from  the  mouth)  with  an  upstanding  opening, 
leading  through  the  tough  body  wall  or  sac  to  the  exterior. 
This  is  "  the  peri-branchial  chamber,"  so  called  because  the 
perforated  wall  of  the  gullet  has  fine  blood-vessels  run- 
ning along  its  meshes, and  acts  as  a  gill  or  branchial  breath- 
ing apparatus.  The  water  streaming  into  the  mouth  and 
through  the  meshes  of  the  gullet  wall  into  this  chamber, 
and  by  its  "  pore  "  or  orifice  to  the  exterior,  oxygenates 
the  blood  as  it  courses  along  the  bars  of  the  network. 

The  solid  particles  of  a  nutritious  nature  (often  micro- 
scopic plants  and  animalcules)  which  enter  with  the  water 
into  the  gullet  are  strained  off  by  its  sieve-like  wall,  and 
pass  at  its  lower  end  into  the  coiling  intestine,  which  is 
visible  when  one  first  roughly  opens  an  Ascidian.  The 
intestine  does  not  open  to  the  exterior,  but  after  forming  a 
loop  turns  on  itself  and  opens  into  the  peri-branchial  cham- 
ber, so  that  the  current  of  water  passing  through  that  cavity 
carries  away  the  matter  discharged  from  the  intestine 
through  the  branchial  pore  to  the  exterior.  Thus  the 
Ascidian  is  provided  with  an  elaborate  apparatus  which 
makes  one  continual  stream  of  water  drawn  into  its  mouth 
serve  as  a  carrier  of  food  particles  to  the  digestive  gut,  of 


280  TADPOLES    OF    THE    SEA 

oxygen  to  the  blood,  and  as  a  flushing,  purifying  current, 
carrying  away  the  refuse  of  the  gut.  I  have  mentioned 
that  the  Ascidian  has  blood.  Its  blood  is  colourless,  but 
is  contained  in  a  fine  branching  system  of  blood-vessels, 
which  pass,  as  two  branching  trees,  one  from  each  end  of  a 
muscular,  regularly  beating  little  heart.  There  is  a  curious 
thing  about  the  Ascidian's  heart,  it  receives  the  blood 
from  the  set  of  vessels  at  one  end  of  it,  and  pumps  it  on 
into  the  vessels  at  the  other  end.  After  some  twenty  or 
thirty  beats  it  stops,  and  then  its  wave  of  contraction 
starts  again,  but  in  the  reverse  direction,  so  that  what 
were  veins  bringing  in  the  blood  become  arteries  carrying 
it  away,  whilst  the  former  arteries  act  as  veins.  After 
the  same  number  of  beats  or  contractions  of  the  heart 
there  is  again  a  brief  pause,  and  the  action  is  again 
reversed.  And  so  it  goes  on.  There  are  an  extraordinary 
number  and  variety  of  kinds  of  Ascidians,  some  large 
some  minute,  some  sac-like  and  fixed,  some  glass-like  in 
transparency  and  floating  in  the  sea.  Others  are  con- 
joined to  form  star-like  flat  encrusting  growths  of  brilliant 
colours  on  submarine  rocks  (Fig.  33).  They  all  have  this 
peculiar  reversible  heart  (which  can  be  watched  for  hours 
with  the  microscope  in  the  small  transparent  kinds),  and 
no  other  animals  are  known  with  a  heart  acting  in  the 
same  way. 

The  common  sac-like  sea-squirt  which  we  are  anato- 
mising is  a  big  kind  called  "  Ascidia  uientula"  There 
are  a  few  bigger,  as  much  as  4  in.  in  length,  but  most  are 
very  much  smaller,  not  larger  than  beans  or  peas.  Our 
sea-squirt  has  a  digestive  gland  (of  red  colour),  and  also 
masses  of  germ-cells  (egg-cells  and  sperm-cells)  between 
the  folds  of  its  intestine.  It  has  a  fine  set  of  muscular 
bands  and  slips,  which  by  their  contraction  can  elongate 
or  shorten  the  sac,  close  or  expand  the  mouth  and  the 
branchial  orifice,  and  squeeze  the  water  from  it.  It  has 


THE    SEA-SQUIRT'S    GOAT  281 

also  a  minute  brain,  a  knob  the  size  of  a  large  pin's  head, 
consisting  of  nerve-cells,  from  which  pass  nerve-fibres  to 
the  muscles,  and  also  to  certain  organs  of  touch  and 
taste.  The  thick  translucent  sac,  which  forms  the  coat  of 
our  Ascidian,  is  a  complete  closed  sac,  except  for  the  two 
holes  not  far  from  one  another,  where  the  mouth  and  the 
orifice  of  the  branchial  chamber  respectively  open  (see 
Fig.  31).  This  coat  or  sac  is  one  of  the  most  peculiar 


KIG.  33. —  Brilliantly  coloured  star-like  growths  united  by  a  common 
dense  jelly  so  as  to  form  a  mat,  which  adheres  to  a  piece  of  brown  sea- 
weed. This  is  the  compound  Ascidian  called  Botryllus.  Each  star 
consists  of  eight  or  nine  little  creatures  like  the  Ascidian  of  Fig.  32, 
but  they  are  united  side  by  side  to  one  another  and  have  one 
common  aperture  (seen  as  a  black  dot  in  the  centre  of  each  star) 
for  their  peri-branchial  chambers.  Each  of  the  constituent  indi- 
viduals of  a  star  has  its  own  mouth  near  the  edge  of  the  circle. 
The  drawing  is  of  the  natural  size. 

and  characteristic  structures  of  all  the  varied  kinds  of 
Ascidians.  They  have,  in  reference  to  it,  received  the 
name  "  Tunicata."  It  consists  of  a  dense,  more  or  less 
transparent  deposit,  in  some  kinds  as  hard  as  horn  and  a 


282  TADPOLES    OF    THE    SEA 

quarter  of  an  inch  thick,  in  others  soft  and  flexible,  on  the 
surface  of  the  delicate  living  layer  of  the  Ascidian's 
body.  In  some  respects  it  may  be  compared  to  the 
hard  horn-like  layer  (called  "  crust  "  or  "  shell  ")  on  the 
surface  of  the  body  in  large  insects  and  in  lobsters  and 
crabs.  But  it  differs  from  that  layer  in  its  chemical 
nature,  which  is  similar  to  the  wood  of  plants  rather  than 
to  the  horn  and  shell  of  other  animals,  and  also  in  the 
fact  that  living  protoplasmic  cells  from  the  epidermic 
layer,  which  underlies  it  and  secretes  it,  pass  into  it  and 
continue  to  live  in  it  as  detached  floating  or  embedded 
cells. 

The  sac-like  creature  which  I  have  just  described  lives 
a  perfectly  quiescent  existence,  not  unlike  that  of  an 
oyster.  It  is  fixed  by  one  end  of  its  sac-like  body,  and 
simply  keeps  up  by  means  of  the  lashing  hairs  with  which 
its  gullet  is  beset  a  constant  stream  of  sea-water  entering 
its  mouth  and  filtering  through  its  sieve-like  pharynx,  and 
so  through  its  branchial  chamber  and  orifice  to  the 
exterior.  One  cannot  but  be  struck  with  the  fact  that  the 
mechanism  with  which  the  Ascidian  is  provided — heart, 
blood-vessels,  brain  and  nerves,  and  muscles,  besides  the 
elaborate  perforated  pharynx — is  an  extremely  complex 
one  for  a^  creature  which  leads  a  sort  of  vegetating  exis- 
tence, motionless  within  a  tough  protecting  sac.  What  is 
the  origin  and  history  of  the  Ascidians  or  Tunicata  ?  To 
what  other  animals  are  they  related  by  descent  and 
cousinship  ?  The  answer  given  to  these  questions  fifty 
years  ago  was  that  they  were  a  sort  of  soft-shelled  oysters 
— in  fact,  they  were  classed  with  the  mollusca  (the  snails 
and  whelks,  clams,  oysters,  and  cuttle-fish).  Then  when 
their  structure  was  more  fully  ascertained,  they  were  con- 
sidered as  a  group  apart — a  puzzle.  It  was  only  when 
their  growth  from  the  egg  was  studied  by  the  most  refined 
microscopical  methods  that  their  real  nature  became 


THE    SEA-SQUIRT'S    YOUNG  283 

apparent.  The  Ascidians,  like  other  animals,  produce 
eggs,  which  are  duly  fertilised,  and  in  many  cases  grow 
without  any  delay  into  the  shape  and  form  of  their 
parents.  But — fortunately  for  our  information  in  regard 
to  a  very  interesting  chapter  of  natural  history — not  all 
the  kinds  of  Ascidians  grow  as  directly  and  simply  as  pos- 
sible from  the  egg  to  the  parental  form.  Some  (and  our 
common, A scidia  mentula  is  among  them)  actually  hatch 
from  the  egg  as  tadpoles — smaller  than  the  full-sized 
tadpoles  of  the  common  frog,  but  nevertheless  tadpoles — 
tadpoles  with  oval,  conjoined  head  and  body,  as  in  those 


ASCIDIAN 

FIG.  34. — The  tadpole  of  a  frog  and  of  an  Ascidian  compared — both 
much  enlarged,  the  Ascidian  more  than  the  frog.  A  very  notice- 
able difference  is  that  the  mouth  of  the  Ascidian  tadpole  is  on  the 
top  of  its  head,  whilst  that  of  the  frog's  tadpole  is  in  front  and  faces 
downwards. 

familiar  to  us,  and  a  long,  fin-fringed  tail,  which,  by  its 
rapid,  wriggling  strokes  to  right  and  left,  drives  the  little 
creature  through  the  salt  water  (Fig.  34). 

These  are  our  "  tadpoles  of  the  sea,"  Ascidian  tadpoles. 
Their  superficial  appearance  was  known  to  naturalists 
for  many  years  before  the  details  of  their  internal  structure 
and  its  mode  of  formation  from  the  first  embryonic  cells 
into  which  the  egg-cell  divides  were  ascertained.  The 
resemblance  of  the  little  marine  Ascidian  tadpoles,  a  quarter 
of  an  inch  long,  to  a  frog's  tadpole  was  noted,  and  regarded 


284  TADPOLES    OF    THE    SEA 

as  a  coincidence  in  form  of  no  special  significance,  and  ex- 
plained on  the  principle  that  "  like  mechanical  needs  must 
produce  like  forms,"  even  in  kinds  of  animals  so  remote  from 
one  another  as  Ascidians  and  Vertebrates.  The  Ascidian 
tadpole  was  considered  merely  as  an  exceptional  "  swim- 
ming larva/'  or  young  form,  occurring  in  a  group  the  young 
of  which  do  not  usually  swim.  Then  came  (in  1866)  the 
study  of  the  minute  structure  of  the  Ascidian  tadpole  by 
the  great  Russian  discoverer,  Kowalewsky,  followed  by 
many  other  investigators.  The  result  was  a  very  impor- 
tant one  for  all  future  conceptions  as  to  the  genetic  rela- 
tionships of  animals — the  making  out  of  the  pedigree  of 
animals.  The  chief  facts  established  were  that  the 
Ascidian  tadpole  has  the  same  structure  in  several  impor- 
tant points  as  we  find  in  the  frog's  tadpole,  and  must  be 
identified  as  a  vertebrate  animal — a  member  of  that  great 
line  of  descent  or  branch  of  the  animal  pedigree  which 
includes  fishes,  amphibians,  reptiles,  birds,  and  mammals  ! 
All  the  vertebrate  animals  have  an  elastic  rod  running 
from  head  to  tail,  a  sort  of  supporting  axis,  to  which  the 
muscles  are  attached.  It  is  called  the  "  notochord,"  and 
whilst  in  some  fishes  (for  instance,  lampreys  and  sturgeons) 
it  remains  rod-like  and  unchanged  throughout  life,  in  most 
vertebrates  it  becomes  enclosed  in  rings  of  bone,  which 
are  the  bony  vertebrae  or  jointed  "  back-bone"  familiar  to 
us,  not  only  in  fishes,  snakes,  birds,  and  joints  of  butchers' 
meat,  but  also  in  our  own  backs.  The  frog's  tadpole  has 
this  notochord  and  so  has  the  Ascidian  tadpole  (Fig.  35), 
and  they  are  formed  in  the  same  way  in  the  very 
young  condition,  namely,  by  a  nipping-off  of  a  long 
fold  or  "  pleat "  of  the  wall  of  the  young  creature's 
simple  gut  or  digestive  cavity !  The  fold  becomes 
closed,  solid,  and  gelatinous,  and  converted  into  a  firm, 
flexible  rod  !  That  is  one  great  point  of  resemblance 
between  the  two  tadpoles,  and  it  is  of  significance, 


GILL-SLITS  285 

because  no  other   animals  besides  vertebrates  possess  such 
a  spinal  rod. 

We  have  seen  that  the  frog's  and  the  Ascidian's  tadpole 
alike  possess  the  "  notochord."  The  next  point  of 
resemblance  is  that  both  tadpoles  have  on  each  side  of 
the  gullet  a  pair  of  slits  (becoming  more  numerous  in 
later  stages  of  growth),  which  allow  the  water,  taken  in  by 
the  mouth,  to  stream  out  again  on  each  side  (see  Fig.  35). 
All  vertebrates  (even  man  and  monkeys)  have  in  very 
early  life  these  "  gill-slits."  They  remain  permanently  in 
fishes  as  the  breathing  organs  or  gills,  and  so  they  do 


hOTOCMORD 

tlU  SLITS 

FIG.  35. — A  diagram  of  the  anatomy  of  the  tadpoles  of  the  frog  (upper 
figure)  and  of  the  Ascidian  (lower  figure).  The  notochord  or 
skeletal  spinal  rod,  the  gill  slits,  and  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  are 
seen  in  each. 

in  the  Ascidian  in  the  form  of  multiplied  perforations 
of  the  gullet,  as  we  have  seen  (Fig.  32).  But  no  other 
animals  besides  vertebrates  have  these  slits.  In  the 
frog's  tadpole  and  in  that  of  the  Ascidian  the  body- 
wall  grows  out  over  the  gill-slits,  so  as  to  form  a 
protective  chamber,  the  peri-branchial  chamber  or  gill 
chamber,  with  a  spout-like  pore,  to  let  the  water  stream 
away,  but  in  the  frog's  tadpole  the  terminal  opening  of 
the  intestine  is  not  covered  in  by  the  walls  of  this  cham- 
ber as  it  is  in  the  Ascidian's  tadpole  and  in  the  adult 


286  TADPOLES    OF    THE    SEA 

Ascidian.  The  third  point  of  agreement  in  the  two  tad- 
poles is  that,  as  in  all  vertebrates,  we  find  in  both  a  hollow 
brain  and  spinal  cord  running  along  the  back,  from  head  to 
tail — in  fact,  a  tubular  nerve-cord,  lying  above  the  skeletal 
elastic  rod  or  notochord  (see  Fig.  35).  In  very  young 
stages  of  growth  of  the  Ascidian  tadpole,  the  nerve-tube  is 
formed  from  the  outermost  layer  of  the  skin  by  the  pro- 
duction of  a  trough,  or  groove,  along  the  back — the  sides 
of  which  close  in.  This  is  the  way  in  which  the  central 
nervous  mass — the  brain  and  spinal  cord — of  all  verte- 
brates is  formed,  and  it  is  so  formed  in  them  alone,  and  in 
no  other  animals.  The  Ascidian  tadpole,  like  the  frog's 
tadpole,  has  a  swollen,  rounded  brain  in  its  head,  from 
which  the  pipe-like  spinal  cord  extends  right  away  along 
the  little  animal  to  the  end  of  its  tail.  The  sensitive  part 
of  the  eye — the  retina — is,  in  all  vertebrate  animals,  in 
its  earliest  phase  of  growth,  a  bulb-like  outgrowth  of  the 
hollow  brain.  That  is  its  nature  in  the  young  frog's 
tadpole.  The  retina  of  the  eye  is  not  formed  as  a  part  of 
the  brain  in  any  other  animals  besides  the  vertebrates. 
But  in  the  Ascidian  tadpole  the  likeness  to  the  vertebrates 
is  kept  up  in  this  respect  also,  giving  us  a  fourth  point  of 
agreement  between  them,  shared  by  no  other  animals.  We 
find  in  the  transparent  young  Ascidian  tadpole,  not  two 
eyes,  but  a  single  little  "retina"  and  black-coloured  spot  of 
pigment,  actually  within  the  hollow  brain  (Fig.  36).  The 
"  retina  "  is  (as  in  all  vertebrates,  and  in  vertebrates  alone) 
part  of  the  brain-wall  ;  but  there  is  no  need  for  it  to  grow 
outwards  to  the  surface,  since  the  light  can  pass  through 
the  transparent  tissues  to  it.  It  has  been  wittily 
remarked  of  the  Ascidian  tadpole  that  "  his  eye  is  single 
and  his  whole  body  is  full  of  light."  The  same  is  true  of 
the  wonderful  little  fish-like  creature  called  the  Lancelet, 
or  Amphioxus. 

Thus,  then,  we  have  seen  four  extremely  peculiar  and 


STRUCTURE    OF    SEA-SQUIRT'S    TADPOLE   287 

important  structures  in  which  the  Ascidian  tadpole  and 
the  frog's  tadpole  agree — structures  which  are  possessed 
by  all  vertebrates  and  by  no  other  animals.  And  not 
only  do  these  structures,  as  shown  in  the  Ascidian  tad- 
pole, agree  in  their  shape  and  relations  to  other  parts 
with  the  similar  structures  of  vertebrates,  but  actually  in 
their  mode  of  building  up,  cell  by  cell,  from  the  primitive 
egg-cell,  the  structures  compared  are  demonstrated  by 
careful  microscopic  study  to  be  identical.  Wfiat,  then, 
must  we  conclude  ?  This  is  a  case  of  cumulative  evidence. 
If  one  met — say,  near  the  North  Pole — a  race  of  men  with 


FIG.  36. — A  drawing  of  the  head  of  an  Ascidian  tadpole  seen  as  a 
transparent  object  under  the  microscope.  C  marks  the  tail,  only 
partly  shown  ;  K  is  the  gullet ;  N  is  the  nervous  system  tapering 
to  form  the  spinal  cord  n  behind  and  expanding  in  front  to  form 
the  hollow  brain  N'.  On  the  inner  wall  of  this  we  see  O  the  eye 
and  a  an  auditory  organ;  o  is  the  aperture  of  the  mouth;  ch  the 
notochord  (unshaded);  d  the  intestine;  5  is  one  of  a  pair  of  ad- 
hesive outgrowths  by  which  the  tadpole  fixes  itself  permanently  to 
a  piece  of  rock. 

the  colour  and  appearance  of  New  Zealanders,  one  would 
say,  "  It  is  very  curious  !  They  are  like  New  Zealanders." 
But  if  one  found  that  they  could  speak  the  Maori  language 
and  no  other,  it  would  be  rendered  nearly  certain  that 
they  were  New  Zealanders.  If  after  this  you  found  that 
they  decorated  themselves  with  the  tattoo-markings  of 
New  Zealanders,  and  then  that  they  possessed  weapons  and 
carvings  of  the  Maori  pattern,  your  conclusion  would  be 


288  TADPOLES   OF  THE  SEA 

placed  beyond  doubt.  Each  piece  of  evidence  multiplies 
enormously  the  chances  against  the  resemblance  being  due 
to  coincidence,  and  not  to  identity  of  race.  So  it  is  with 
our  tadpoles  of  the  sea.  They  do  not  merely  resemble 
vertebrates — they  are  vertebrates  ;  they  belong  to  that 
great  line  of  the  animal  pedigree.  The  strange  immobile 
mollusc-like  sacs  known  as  "  Ascidians  "  or  "  sea-squirts," 
so  unlike  the  little  tadpoles  from  which  they  gro\v,  are 


•MUM 

NOTOCHORD  ^ 


FIG.  37. — Two  stages  in  the  fixation  of  the  Ascidian  tadpole  by  its 
head  to  a  rock  and  its  subsequent  degeneration  or  simplification. 
In  the  upper  figure  the  tail  is  seen  to  be  withering  and  the  brain 
no  longer  is  elongated  to  form  a  spinal  cord.  In  the  lower  figure 
the  shape  of  the  young  animal  is  much  changed,  the  tail  has 
almost  entirely  withered  up,  and  the  region  affixed  to  the  rock  has 
grown  relatively  large. 

simplified  or  "  degenerate  "  as  compared  with  that  so-called 
"  larval  "  or  transient  youthful  stage  of  growth.  Though 
we  only  find  this  history  in  the  growth  from  the  egg  of  a 
few  of  the  Ascidians,  yet  all — those  which  never  pass 
through  a  tadpole  stage  of  growth,  have  to  be  embraced 
in  our  conclusion.  The  Ascidians  are  simplified  sac-like 
vertebrates. 


FIXATION  OF  THE  SEA-SQUIRT'S  TADPOLE    289 

The  free-swimming  tadpole  of  the  sea-squirt  or  Ascidian, 
with  its  long,  fish-like  extension  of  the  muscular  body, 
supported  by  its  elastic  backbone,  with  its  brain  and 
spinal  cord  and  its  eye,  after  a  short  period  of  active  life 
in  the  sea  runs  its  head  against  a  piece  of  rock  or  other 
solid  support,  and  by  means  of  an  adhesive  growth  on 
the  skin  in  front  of  the  mouth  fixes  itself  securely  (Fig.  37). 
To  this  spot  it  remains  attached  for  the  rest  of  its  life. 
It  is  still  very  minute — a  little  more  than  a  quarter  of 


TAIL 


FIG.  38. — A  later  stage;  the  young  Ascidian  has  now  assumed  the 
sac-like  shape  of  the  adult.  The  peri-branchial  chamber  or  cloaca 
is  formed  and  has  its  opening  to  the  exterior.  There  are  still  only 
two  gill  slits :  these  will  multiply  indefinitely  as  the  creature  grows 
in  size.  The  arrow  shows  the  direction  of  the  stream  of  sea-water 
which  enters  the  mouth  and  passes  through  the  gill  slits  into  the 
cloacal  or  peri-branchial  chamber  and  so  to  the  exterior.  The 
actual  size  of  the  young  Ascidian  at  this  stage  is  about  that  of  a 
large  hemp-seed. 

an  inch  long — but  it  takes  in  floating  particles  of 
nourishment  by  drawing  in  water  to  its  mouth  which 
passes  out  by  the  gill-slits  of  its  gullet,  leaving  the  food- 
particles  behind.  It  grows  rapidly,  but  not  equally.  The 
tadpole's  tail  does  not  grow  at  all !  It  simply  atrophies 

19 


2go  TADPOLES   OF  THE  SEA 

and  disappears,  leaving  no  trace  behind  it,  and  with 
it  disappear  the  elastic  backbone  and  the  spinal  nerve- 
cord.  The  brain  remains,  but  loses  its  eye,  and  does 
not  grow  so  much  in  proportion  as  do  other  parts 
(Fig.  38).  It  is  the  gullet  which  increases  most  ;  it 
becomes  relatively  enormous,  and  the  few  perforations 
or  gill-slits  in  its  wall  become  multiplied  so  as  to  form 
a  regular  net-like  trellis-work.  The  skin  deposits  a 
thick  and  translucent  coat  or  "  tunic  "  all  over  the  surface 
of  the  body,  leaving  a  hole  for  the  mouth  and  another  for 
the  pore  or  opening  of  the  peri-branchial  chamber.  Thus 
protected  and  fixed  in  a  safe  place — the  tadpole  trans- 
formed into  a  sea-squirt  grows  as  a  featureless  oval  sac  to 
a  length  of  two  or  three  inches.  It  eventually  produces 
eggs,  which  grow  into  little  tadpoles  and  swim  away 
into  the  sea,  and  so  the  round  of  its  life  is  completed. 

The  Ascidian  or  sea-squirt  is  specialised  for  feeding 
and  breathing  by  means  of  the  current  of  water  passing 
into  its  mouth  and  out  by  its  gill-slits.  It  has  no  need 
of  movement  nor  of  eyes  nor  ears  ;  it  leads  a  passive, 
unaggressive  life,  and  is  distinctly  inferior,  in  its  general 
capability  for  dealing  with  the  surrounding  world,  to  the 
little  tadpole  by  the  change  of  which  it  is  formed. 

Now  let  us  compare  with  this  the  history  of  the  other 
tadpole — that  of  the  frog  (Fig.  39).  It  takes  in  food  by  its 
mouth,  and  soon  develops  movable  horny  lips  and  a  jaw, 
which  enable  it  to  nibble  and  feed  on  soft  solid  food.  It 
grows  to  an  inch  or  more  in  length,  keeping  its  large,  mus- 
cular tail  and  fish-like  appearance.  Then  four  legs  appear, 
first  the  hind  pair  and  then  a  front  pair.  The  tail  ceases 
to  grow,  and  withers,  whilst  the  legs  and  the  rest  of  the 
body  increase.  At  last  the  tail  is  a  mere  projecting  stump, 
and  the  tadpole  crawls  out  of  the  water  and  becomes  a 
little  frog.  The  legs  are  strong,  muscular  limbs  used  for 
crawling  and  jumping,  and  for  swimming  when  the  young 


THE   FROG'S  TADPOLE 


291 


frog  finds  it  desirable  to  plunge  into  the  water.  He  has 
now  grown  a  pair  of  air-holding  sacs  for  breathing  (the 
lungs),  opening  from  the  gullet,  whilst  his  gill-slits  have 
entirely  closed  up  and  disappeared.  He  moves  quickly, 


1/1G  39. — The  development  of  the  frog's  tadpole  into  a  young  frog, 
i,  Very  young  tadpoles  (twice  the  natural  size)  adhering  by  their 
head  suckers  (comparable  to  those  of  the  Ascidian,  see  Fig.  36)  to 
the  leaves  of  a  water  plant ;  2  and  2a,  the  same  enlarged  to  show 
the  external  plume-like  gills  ;  3  and  4,  later  stages  ;  5,  the  hind  legs 
commencing  to  appear;  6,  with  both  fore  and  hind  legs;  7,  the 
tail  is  withering  and  disappearing;  8,  the  young  frog. 

and  with  purpose ;  he  catches  small  insects,  little  worms, 
and  such  like  food,  and  is  a  creature  of  altogether  superior 


292  TADPOLES   OF  THE   SEA 

endowments  compared  with  what  he  was.  His  eyes  are 
large  and  keen  in  sight  ;  his  hearing  organs  are  large  and 
good  ;  so  are  his  organs  of  smell  ;  and  he  has  a  very  fine 
tongue,  which  he  can  shoot  out,  so  as  to  pick  up  quickly 
a  fly  or  spider  and  draw  it  into  his  mouth. 

Starting  from  a  stage  of  their  tadpole  life,  when   they 
are  practically  equal  in  powers  and  endowments,  the  frog 
has  progressed,  whilst  the  Ascidian  has  retrogressed.  The 
frog  has  become  more  complex  than  he  was  as  a  tadpole, 
more  varied  in  his  powers  ;  the  Ascidian  has  become  less 
complex  ;  in   fact,  simplified,  and  with  a  less  variety  of 
powers  than  when  it  was  a  tadpole.      Both  the   Ascidian 
and  the   frog   exhibit,  as    all   animals   do   in  their  growth 
from  the  egg,  a  more  or  less  blurred  recapitulation  of  the 
long  line  of  ancestors  through  which  they  have  developed 
from  a  unicellular  animalcule.   The  tadpole  is  a  recapitula- 
tive presentation  of  the  fish-like  ancestor  common  to  both 
the  common  Ascidian  and  the  common  frog.       It  is  em- 
phasised and  of  some  duration  in   their  growth  from  the 
egg,  but  in   other  closely  allied  Ascidians  and  frogs,  and 
in    most  other  vertebrates,  the  tadpole   stage   is    blurred 
and   lost.       The   inert   sac-like    Ascidian  into  which  the 
Ascidian    tadpole   is    converted,    though   it    has    a    very 
wonderful   trellis-like  gullet  and    a  stout,  tough  coat  to 
protect  it,   is   yet   a  "  poor   creature,"  as    compared   with 
the  frog — a  helpless,  passive  lump,  living  on  the  abundant 
microscopic  particles  of  food   obtained  from  endless  pints 
of  sea-water,  to  the  mechanical  straining  off  of  which  from 
the  ceaseless  stream  passed  into  its  mouth  and  out  of  its 
branchial   pore   it   is  comfortably  and  irretrievably  aban- 
doned.     This  is  its  speciality.      Its  apparatus  for  this  one 
process  is  highly  perfected,  but  in  every  other  respect  the 
Ascidian   is  simplified  and  negative  as  compared  with  its 
tadpole. 

The  descriptive  term  "  degeneration  "  has  been  applied 


SIMPLIFICATION  WITH  SPECIALISATION    293 

to  the  change  which  comes  over  the  Ascidian  as  it  grows 
from  the  active  tadpole  stage  and  becomes  converted  into 
this  inert,  one-purposed  sac,  but  owing  to  other  uses  of 
the  word  "  degeneration  "  it  is  better  to  speak  of  the 
condition  of  the  Ascidian  as  "  extreme  specialism  with 
simplification."  Other  very  obvious  cases  of  this  simplifica- 
tion connected  with  specialism  are  familiar  to  naturalists 
among  parasitic  animals.  Most  of  such  animals  get  abun- 
dant food  by  taking  advantage  of  the  nutritive  juices  of 
the  other  animals  (or  the  plants)  on  which  they  are  para- 
sitic, and  whilst  developing  special  apparatus  for  this 
purpose,  often  become  reduced  and  simplified  in  all  other 
parts  of  their  structure.  There  are,  for  instance,  a  great 
many  kinds  of  shrimp-like  animals  which  show  this 
condition.  When  young  they  are  active  little  shrimps 
with  many  legs,  claws,  jointed  body,  and  muscular  tail. 
But  before  they  have  grown  to  any  size  the  females  affix 
themselves  to  a  fish  or  other  marine  animal,  and,  burying 
the  head  and  mouth  in  its  juicy  flesh,  suck  in  nutriment. 
They  lose  their  legs  and  the  ring-like  jointing  of  the  body 
and  swell  out  into  a  sac-like  shape.  The  sac  is  chiefly 
occupied  by  the  enormously  abundant  eggs.  When  you 
examine  one  of  these  parasites  in  the  adult  condition  it 
would  not  occur  to  you  that  a  few  weeks  earlier  it  was  a 
neat,  well-balanced,  many-legged  little  shrimp,  darting 
through  the  water.  Yet  such  is  shown  to  be  its  history 
when  we  hatch  its  eggs  and  watch  the  early  stages  of  its 
life.  Such  is  the  history,  too,  of  the  ship's  barnacle 
(Fig.  40)  which  begins  life  as  a  free-swimming,  shrimp-like 
creature,  and  then  permanently  fixes  itself  by  its  head 
(as  does  the  sea-squirt)  but  retains  its  legs  for  the 
purpose  of  kicking  food  into  its  mouth  (Fig.  41).  The 
barnacle  is  not  parasitic,  but  merely  obtains  shelter  and 
free  carriage  by  fixing  itself  to  floating  wood. 

This  tendency  to  simplification  when  a  special  means  of 


294  TADPOLES    OF    THE   SEA 

obtaining  abundant  nutriment  and  safety  from  enemies 
has  been,  so  to  speak,  "  discovered  "  by  a  race  of  hitherto 
active  creatures  is  seen  in  many  kinds  of  animals,  and  in 
a  more  or  less  marked  degree.  The  spiders,  for  instance, 
are  the  descendants  of  scorpion-like  ancestors,  and  as 
compared  with  the  many-jointed  and  variously  endowed 
scorpions  are  simplified.  The  spiders  have  a  globular 
unjointed  body,  very  long,  quickly-moving  legs,  and 
deadly  poisonous  claws.  They  are  "  specialised "  for 
great  strength  and  rapidity  so  as  to  catch  insects  and 


FIG.  40. — Two  individuals  of  the  ship's  barnacle  (Lepas  anatifera) 
attached  to  a  piece  of  wood.  Usually  they  are  seen  hanging  down- 
wards from  the  substance  to  which  they  have  fixed  themselves. 
Note  the  shell-like  covering  in  the  left-hand  specimen,  the  pro- 
truded legs  (capable  of  being  extended  and  suddenly  withdrawn 
into  the  shell),  and  the  solid,  leathery  stalk  which,  as  Fig.  41  shows, 
was  the  creature's  head. 

suck  their  blood.  In  them  "  simplification "  is  accom- 
panied by  great  activity  and  by  wonderful  perfection  of 
the  sense-organs  and  nervous  system,  resulting  in  their 
marvellous  powers  of  spinning  threads  and  constructing 
snares  and  nests.  The  spiders  cannot  be  regarded  as 
inferior  in  special  powers  and  endowments  to  the 
scorpions  ;  indeed,  they  are  far  ahead  of  them.  They  are 


MITES  AS   DECADENT  SPIDERS 


295 


specialised,  yet  are  more,  not  less,  capable  in  consequence. 
But  they  are  at  a  perilous  point  of  perfection.  In  the 
animal  series,  as  in  the  history  of  art,  decadence  often 
follows  suddenly  upon  periods  of  the  highest  attainment, 
and  in  virtue  of  the  same  law  of  development.  From  the 
spiders  have  arisen  small  spider-like  creatures — the  mites 
and  tics — which  no  longer  "  trap  "  or  hunt  their  prey,  but 
have  learnt  to  attach  themselves  to  the  bodies  of  larger 


LABVA  BAUNTJS 


LARVA 


FIG.  41. — Development  of  the  barnacle  from  a  free-swimming  stage 
with  six  active  legs.  The  larva  of  Balanus  and  of  Chthamalus, 
closely  allied  to  the  true  Lepas  barnacle,  are  drawn  since  they  do 
not  differ  from  that  of  Lepas.  In  the  drawing  labelled  "  pupa"  the 
head  with  its  two  feelers  outspread  is  seen  fixing  the  young  animal 
by  a  cement,  which  it  secretes,  to  a  piece  of  wood. 

animals  and  plants  and  to  feed  on  their  abundant  juices. 
Some  have  gone  further  and  feed  on  hair,  skin,  and 
feathers,  or  even  on  the  powdery  masses  of  dead  vege- 
tables, and  whilst  retaining  the  general  shape  of  spiders 
have  lost  the  extraordinary  agility,  the  keen  sight  anc\ 


296  TADPOLES    OF    THE    SEA 

touch-sense  of  those  creatures  and  their  phenomenal  skill 
in  spinning  and  construction,  and  have  also  become  (no 
doubt  as  an  element  of  safety)  extremely  small.  The 
mites  (cheese  mites,  bird  and  horse  mites,  itch  insects, 
and  plant  mites)  are  specialised  and  simplified  spiders. 
The  vigorous  and  active  organs  of  the  spiders  have  in 
them  dwindled  and  to  a  great  extent  atrophied.  They 
are  instances  of  simplification  connected  with  the  specialism 
which  secures  them  abundant  food  and  safety  in  virtue  of 
their  small  size  and  capacity  for  sucking  nutriment  from 
all  sorts  of  obscure  sources  where  they  find  no  competition. 
A  few  words  must  now  be  said  about  the  exquisitely 
beautiful  creatures  to  which  the  Ascidian  race  has  given 
rise — creatures  which  are  amongst  the  most  curious,  and 
at  the  same  time  the  most  gem-like  in  colour  and  trans- 
parency, of  all  the  myriads  of  lovely  things  which  the 
everlasting  ocean  offers  to  our  eyes.  The  common  large 
Ascidian,  two  inches  or  more  in  length,  is  a  rough- 
looking,  oblong  sac,  securely  fixed  by  an  adhesive  base  to 
a  rock.  Suppose  this  base  to  grow  and  spread  over  the 
rock  and  to  give  rise  to  buds  like  the  stem  of  a  plant,  so 
that  several  Ascidian  sacs  are  produced  resting  on  an 
enlarged  base  !  That  seems  an  incredible  thing  for  an 
animal  to  do  and  more  like  the  growth  of  a  plant — but  it 
is  the  regular  mode  of  growth  in  some  Ascidians.  Then 
suppose  that  the  sacs  are  not  large  and  coarse,  but  only 
as  big  as  a  large  dewdrop,  each  like  a  goblet  in  shape  and 
perfectly  transparent  and  colourless,  as  though  carved  in 
rock  crystal.  This  being  accomplished,  you  have  the  little 
compound  or  budded  Ascidian  called  "  Clavelina  "  !  It 
is  a  marvellously  beautiful  thing,  and  groups  of  them 
may  often  be  found  on  rocky  shores  at  very  low 
tide,  attached  to  the  under-surface  of  ledges  or  slabs 
of  rock.  Its  crystal-like  transparency  not  only  makes 
it  a  wonderful  sight  to  the  unaided  eye,  but  enables 


COMPOSITE   SEA-SQUIRTS  297 

one  with  a  microscope  to  see  right  into  the  living 
creature  and  to  watch  the  beating  of  its  heart,  the 

movement  of  its  colourless,  clear  blood,  and  the  lashing 
of  the  minute  hair-like  whips  set  on  the  trellis-work  of  its 
gullet  by  which  the  sea-water  is  drawn  in  at  the  mouth 
and  passed  out  through  the  perforations  of  the  gullet  wall 

—bringing  food  and  rich  streams  of  oxygenated  liquid  to 
the  little  animal. 

That  is  one  kind  of  Ascidian  not  far  removed  from  the 
common  rough  sea-squirt.  Now  we  will  go  a  step  further. 
Suppose  that  instead  of  merely  budding  new  individuals 
from  its  stem-like  base,  the  Ascidian  is  liable  to  a  budding 
process  which  affects  its  whole  body.  This  is  what 
happens  in  some  kinds  of  Ascidians  :  each  original  indivi- 
dual, as  it  grows,  becomes  divided  or  "  budded  "  into  some 
six  or  a  dozen  closely  adherent  individuals,  each  with  its 
own  mouth,  and  otherwise  complete.  But  all  are  united 
to  one  central  peri-branchial  out-flow  chamber  by  the  orifice 
of  which  the  water,  taken  in  by  all,  is  passed  to  the 
exterior,  and  all  are  enclosed  in  a  continuous  sac,  coat  or 
tunic.  Such  composite  Ascidians  exist  in  great  variety. 
Some  are  upright,  and  an  inch  or  more  in  length,  and 
often  beautifully  coloured — tinted  pink  or  violet — others 
are  flattened,  and  the  united  individuals  are  spread  star-like 
around  their  central  branchial  orifice,  on  the  rock  to  which 
their  common  tunic  adheres.  Not  only  that,  but  a  whole 
series  of  such  star-like  composite  groups  is  formed,  scat- 
tered at  intervals  (by  separation  after  budding)  in  a  sheet 
of  encrusting  tough,  gelatinous  tunic.  The  gelatinous 
encrusting  "  sheet  "  is  the  same  thing  as  the  tough  sac  of 
the  common  simple  Ascidian.  This  is  the  nature  of  the 
beautiful  encrusting  growths  known  as  "  Botryllus,"  which 
are  found  either  on  rocks  or  stones,  or  on  large 
seaweeds  (Fig.  33).  The  flat,  star-like  composite 
Individuals  are  one  third  of  an  inch  across,  and  are 


298  TADPOLES    OF   THE    SEA 

of  colours  contrasting  with  that  of  the  sheet-like 
tunic  in  which  they  are  embedded,  so  that  the  sheet- 
like  growth  looks  like  a  piece  of  woven  fabric  with 
a  radiated  star  pattern  repeated  all  over  its  surface. 
Purple  and  green,  yellow  and  orange  in  various  shades 
are  the  colours  contrasted  in  the  stars  and  groundwork. 
This  extraordinary  arrangement  of  little  animals  as 
flattened  sacs  grouped  like  the  rays  of  a  star  in  a  gela- 
tinous bed  or  matrix  is  as  unlike  a  vertebrate  fish  or  tad- 
pole as  anything  can  be  ;  yet  the  animals  composing  this 
star-spangled  jewel  actually  lay  eggs,  from  each  of  which 
a  tadpole  hatches  !  The  Botryllus,  as  this  beautiful 
encrustation  is  called,  is  one  of  those  exceptional  Ascidians 
which  have  retained  the  tadpole  phase,  or  young  form  (often 
called  a  "  larva,"  the  name  applied  to  the  caterpillar  of 
moths  and  butterflies),  in  their  growth  from  the  egg.  The 
Botryllus  tadpole,  after  some  days  of  a  free-swimming 
life,  fixes  itself  by  its  head  to  a  solid  stone  or  weed,  and 
changes  into  a  star-shaped  group,  from  which  other  con- 
nected star-groups  are  budded  off,  whilst  remaining 
embedded  in  a  common  gelatinous  sheet  exuded  by 
them,  and  holding  them  together  ! 

Though  we  can  often  prove  that  the  brilliant  colouring 
and  pattern-marks  of  an  animal  or  a  plant  are  of  advan- 
tage to  their  possessor,  either  as  attracting  other  animals 
to  it  or  as  concealing  it  from  enemies  or  warning  others 
to  leave  it  alone,  yet  there  is  a  vast  preponderance  of 
cases  in  which  we  cannot  ascribe  any  special  "  use  "  to 
the  colour,  as  colour.  It  happens  that  certain  chemical 
bodies  necessarily  manufactured  by  the  plant  or  animal  in 
the  course  of  its  living  changes  are  of  this  or  that  colour, 

just  as  water  is  blue  and  iron-rust  is  red,  and  so there 

the  brilliant  colour  is.  And  so  far  as  the  advantage  of 
the  animal  or  plant  is  concerned,  it  might  just  as  well  not 
be  there  at  all !  This  uselessness  of  beautiful  colouring 


PHOSPHORESCENT  COLONIES  299 

and  pattern  often  strikes  one  very  forcibly  in  the  case -of 
creatures  which  live  in  dark  pools,  on  the  under-side  of 
rocks,  or  at  considerable  depth  in  the  sea,  where  no  eye 
can  ever  see  them.  It  is  also  striking  in  those  cases 
where  the  beautiful  colour  and  design  exists  in  some  com- 
pletely hidden  or  internal  part  of  the  planter  animal.  It 
is  certainly  not  possible  with  our  present  knowledge  to 
ascribe  the  colour  and  beauty  of  many  marine  animals  to 
any  utility  or  advantage  to  their  owner.  But  this,  of 
course,  is  quite  consistent  with  the  fact — now  most 
thoroughly  demonstrated — that  in  a  great  many  cases  the 
once  useless  colour  has  been  selected  and  preserved  in 
certain  spots  and  shapes,  and  on  various  parts,  so  as  to 
be  of  great  advantage  to  the  animal  or  plant  so  coloured 
in  its  relations  to  surrounding  animals,  whose  eyes  are 
affected,  and  whose  actions  are  guided  by  the  optical 
impression  so  produced.  The  same  is  true  as  to  the 
phosphorescent  light  emitted  in  the  dark  by  certain 
animals  and  certain  plants.  In  some  instances  we  can  show 
its  value  to  the  light-maker  ;  but  in  many  other  instances 
it  appears  to  be  a  mere  non-significant  by-product. 

Some  of  the  composite  growths  formed  by  the  budding 
kinds  of  Ascidians  are  phosphorescent.  We  call  a  cluster 
of  budded  animals  which  remain  in  continuity  with  one 
another  "  a  colony."  It  is  not  perhaps  a  good  term,  but 
it  is  the  one  in  use.  Such  "  colonies  "  or  aggregates 
formed  by  Ascidians  are  in  some  kinds  irregular  and 
indefinite  in  shape  ;  in  others  they  are  definite  in  shape 
as  are  the  radiated  star-like  colonies  of  Botryllus.  A 
very  curious  kind  of  "  colony,"  of  definite  shape,  is 
formed  by  the  budding  Ascidian  known  as  "the 
sea-candle,"  or  "  Pyrosoma."  It  is  a  hollow,  pinkish- 
coloured  translucent  cylinder,  three  or  four  inches  long  as 
commonly  seen  in  the  Mediterranean,  but  bigger  species 
(even  four  feet  long)  occur  in  tropical  seas.  At  night, 


300  TADPOLES    OF    THE    SEA 

when  touched  or  otherwise  excited,  these  "  sea  candles  " 
glow  all  over  with  a  strong  yellowish  light.  They  are  not 
fixed,  but  float  together  in  great  shoals  in  the  sea,  and 
when  a  boat  runs  into  such  a  floating  crowd  of  these 
curious  marine  "  candles  "  the  waters  "  blaze  "  over  a  large 
space  with  their  brilliant  phosphorescence.  The  cylinders 
of  Pyrosoma  consist  of  clear,  tough  jelly — they  are  hollow 
and  open  at  each  end — and  the  jelly  is  raised  into  glass- 
like  pointed  projections  all  over  the  surface.  This  tough 
crystal-like  jelly  is  the  common  coat  or  tunic  of  an 
immense  number  of  little  Ascidians  which  have  produced 
it  as  they  budded  and  multiplied  from  an  original  single 
little  Ascidian.  They  are  all  set  in  the  jelly,  so  that 
each  has  its  mouth  opening  on  to  the  outer  surface 
of  the  cylinder,  whilst  the  aperture  of  the  peri-branchial 
chamber  is  at  the  other  end  of  the  little  animal  and 
opens  into  the  long  axial  cavity  of  the  cylinder.  A  well- 
grown  cylinder  is  built  up  by  some  hundreds  of  indi- 
vidual Ascidians,  and  a  slice  across  its  length  shows  from 
eight  to  a  dozen  of  them  set  radially  in  the  ring  of 
jelly,  cut  off  like  a  slice  of  a  hollow  cucumber.  The  little 
Ascidians  are  each  about  a  third  of  an  inch  in  length,  cor- 
responding to  the  thickness  of  the  jelly-wall  in  which  they 
are  set.  They  are  all  in  connection  with  one  another  by 
strands  of  living  tissue.  They  continually  bud,  and  also 
form  new  jelly — thus  adding  to  the  size  of  the  colony, 
new  individuals  being  budded  so  as  to  occupy  positions 
between  the  older  ones.  The  whole  colony  increases  in 
bulk  by  "  interstitial  growth."  They  also  produce,  from 
time  to  time,  each  a  single  egg,  which  is  fertilised  within 
the  parent,  and  grows  into  a  little  chain  of  four  minute 
Ascidians  surrounding  a  larger  central  one,  before  it  is 
set  free,  and  floats  out  of  the  central  chamber  of  the 
"colonial  cylinder"  to  start  a  new  floating  colony. 

Each  of  the  transparent  little  Ascidians  of  a  Pyrosoma 


THE   ORGANS   OF   PHOSPHORESCENCE     301 

colony   is   fully    organised,    like   the   common    large   sea- 
squirt,  but  it  is  oat-shaped,  being  elongated  in  such  a  way 
that  the  mouth  is  at  one  end  of  the  oat  and  the  opening 
of  the  branchial  chamber  (often  called  the  "  atrium  ")  at 
the  other.      Near  the  nerve-mass  or  brain  one  can  see  with 
the  miscroscope  in  the  living  creature  a  pair  of  granular 
little  lumps.   Darken  the  room  in  which  you  are  observing 
and  you  will  see  these  little  lumps  glowing  independently, 
and  giving  out  a  strong  light.     They  are  the  phosphores- 
cent organs  of  the  "  sea-candle  "  or  Pyrosoma.       If  you 
gently  pinch  one  end  of  a  Pyrosoma  floating  in  a  tank  of 
sea-water  in  a  darkened   room,  you    will    see   a  wave  of 
light  pass  along  the   colony  from  the  pinched  end  to  the 
other.     The  excitation  caused  by  the  pinch  is  transmitted 
from  one  of  the  little  "  colonists  "  to  the  next,  and  so  on 
through  the  whole  length.     The  phosphorescent  matter  is 
a  fatty  chemical  compound.    It  can  be  extracted  from  the 
"  sea-candle "     (as    from    other    marine     phosphorescent 
animals),  dried,  and  kept  for  some  weeks,  when  it  can  be 
again  made  to  give  out  light  by  wetting  it  with  sea-water 
and   a    little  ether.      Its  property  of  giving   out   light   is 
dependent  on  its  contact  with  oxygen,  and  during  life  this 
contact  is  controlled    by  the  nervous  system  of  the  little 
Ascidian.      It  appears   also   that  the   cells  which  produce 
the  phosphorescent  granules  are  stimulated  by  nerves,  just 
as  are  the  cells  which  produce  the  saliva  and  other  secre- 
tions in  higher  animals.     The   same   history  is   true  with 
regard  to  the  phosphorescence  of  many  marine  animals — 
worms,  shrimps,  and  jellyfish — as  well  as  of  glow-worms, 
fire-flies,  and  deep-sea  fishes.      In  some  cases,  but  not  in 
all,  we  can   imagine  what  may  be  the  use  to  its  owner  of 
the  phosphorescent  gift. 

There  is  a  whole  world  of  transparent  floating  creatures 
in  the  sea  which  live  near  the  surface  and  never  rest  on 
the  bottom.  They  are  all  glass-like  and  often  colourless, 


302  TADPOLES   OF   THE   SEA 

or  marked  with  only  a  rare  patch  of  red  or  violet  colour. 
They  are  not  often  seen  in  the  stormy,  muddy  seas  of  the 
English  coast,  but  occur  far  out  at  sea  and  in  the  Medi- 
terranean. In  the  quiet  sea-lochs  of  Scotland  and  in  the 
Norwegian  fiords  they  can  be  captured  with  the  towing- 
net — a  wide-mouthed  bag  of  bolting  cloth  attached  to  a 
rope  and  towed  by  the  naturalist  behind  his  boat.  I  made 
my  acquaintance  with  this  peculiar  world  of  life  many 
years  ago  in  the  Mediterranean.  It  includes  glass-like 
fishes  (the  young  stage  of  eels),  crystalline  shrimps,  worms, 
jellyfish  (medusae),  swimming  snails,  and  a  vast  number  of 
minute  transparent  larvae,  or  young  forms  of  animals, 
which  in  later  life  sink  to  the  bottom.  But  the  most 
curious  and  characteristic  members  of  this  special  glass- 
like  floating  population  are  certain  transparent  Ascidians 
called  salps  or  Salpae,  which  are  very  abundant  in  the  Bay 
of  Naples  and  in  the  warmer  seas.  A  few  years  ago  I 
met  one  species  of  them  in  great  numbers  when  I  was 
swimming  in  the  sea  near  Dinard,  on  the  Brittany  coast. 
Big  salps  an  inch  to  three  inches  long — transparent  oblong 
sacs,  widely  open  at  each  end — are  commonly  found  in 
the  Bay  of  Naples,  slowly  swimming  by  a  very  gentle 
contraction  and  expansion  of  the  walls  of  the  sac.  They 
are  Ascidians,  like  in  general  build  to  the  constituent 
individuals  of  the  sea-candle  colonies,  but  much  bigger. 
Big  specimens  of  Salps  are  as  much  as  three  inches  in 
length.  The  salp  is  like  a  transparent,  oblong  packing- 
case,  with  the  small  ends  knocked  out.  The  wide  opening 
at  one  end  is  the  mouth,  that  at  the  other  is  the  gaping 
orifice  of  the  peri-branchial  chamber.  The  whole  salp 
seems  little  more  at  first  sight  than  a  huge  gullet,  which 
opens  at  one  end  by  the  mouth,  and  by  large  slits  in  its 
sides  is  continued  into  the  equally  large  branchial 
chamber,  which  gapes  widely  at  the  other  end  of  it.  You 
can  put  a  pencil  through  the  animal — into  one  end  and 


SOLITARY   SALPS  AND   CHAIN  SALPS     303 

out  at  the  other — without  lacerating  it  !  However,  on 
one  side  of  the  packing-case-with-the-ends-knocked-out 
there  is  a  little  soft  mass  of  gut  and  a  heart  and  other 
tissue,  often  coloured  red  or  blue.  Floating  among  the 
large  salps  we  often  find  chains  of  smaller  salps,  the 
individuals — twenty  or  more  in  number — being  joined  side 
by  side  by  means  of  a  distinct  band  like  that  of  the 
Siamese,  twins.  These  smaller  salps  may  be  as  big  as  a 
hazel-nut,  and  the  chain  or  row  of  them  is  often  two  feet 
long.  These  chains  of  living  creatures  look  like  unclasped 
necklaces  of  crystal  beads  floating  in  the  water.  A  very 
interesting  fact  is  that  the  "  chain-salpae  "  are  produced  by 
budding  inside  the  large  single  salps.  One  may  often 
find  the  young  chain  coiled  like  a  serpent  within  its 
parent,  and  clearly  visible  through  the  latter's  glass-like 
body  wall.  It  escapes  when  grown  to  a  certain  size,  and 
quietly  floats  away,  feeding  and  growing.  But  the  number 
of  individuals  in  the  chain — from  twelve  to  fifty  or  more 
(according  to  the  species) — does  not  increase  after  birth, 
nor  do  they  individually  grow  to  be  much  more  than  a 
quarter  of  the  size  of  their  parent  when  the  chain  breaks 
up  and  they,  too,  float  for  a  time  as  detached  individuals. 
The  big  solitary  salps  produce  by  internal  budding 
these  chains  of  smaller  salps — differing  so  much  in  details 
of  shape  from  themselves  as  to  have  received  special 
names  as  separate  species  ;  but  they  do  not  produce  eggs. 
On  the  contrary,  each  of  the  small  individuals  constituting 
a  chain  of  salps  produces  within  it  one  egg  ;  and  this, 
when  fertilised,  grows  within  its  parent  to  a  fair  size,  and 
is  extruded  or  "  born."  Then,  without  passing  through 
any  "  tadpole  phase,"  it  increases  in  size  and  becomes  a 
solitary  big  salp,  which  in  due  time  produces  another 
chain.  So  that  there  is  an  alternation  of  generations,  the 
chain-salps  producing  solitary  salps  and  the  solitary  salps 
producing  chain-salps.  This  fact  was  observed  and 


304  TADPOLES   OF  THE   SEA 

described  a  century  ago  by  the  poet  Chamisso,  who 
wrote  the  story  of  Peter  Schlemihl,  the  man  who  sold  his 
shadow  to  the  devil !  The  term  "  alternation  of  genera- 

o 

tions  "  was  introduced  to  describe  the  extraordinary  state 
of  affairs  discovered  by  Chamisso  in  the  Salpae.  We  now 
know  that  what  occurs  in  the  Salpae  is  only  one  striking 
example  of  a  proceeding  which  is  very  frequent  in  a 
variety  of  kinds  of  both  animals  and  plants.  The  "  alter- 
nation "  of  generations,  differently  produced  and  of 
different  appearance,  is  known  to  occur  in  many  parasitic 
worms,  in  many  insects,  such  as  the  gall-flies  and  plant- 
lice,  and  in  the  coralline  polyps,  whilst  it  is  universal  in 
mosses,  ferns,  and  (in  a  hidden  inconspicuous  way)  in  all 
the  flowering  plants.  (See  Chapters  VII  and  VIII.) 


It  is  practically  certain  that  the  whole  group  of 
"  Ascidians  "  or  "  Tunicata,"  which  in  extreme  cases  show 
us  mat-like  and  multiple  budded  forms  like  vegetables 
rather  than  animals,  are  the  much  simplified,  specialised 
descendants  of  active,  highly  developed  vertebrate  fish-like 
ancestors.  Fifty  years  ago  the  view  was  very  general 
among  naturalists  that  the  simpler  animals  are  necessarily 
the  more  primitive.  In  earlier  times  the  notion  existed 
that  living  things  could  be  naturally  arranged  in  a  single 
series,  leading  step  by  step  from  the  simplest  forms 
through  more  complex  forms  to  the  highest  and  most 
perfect.  This  single  series  was  called  the  "  scala  naturae " 
or  "  ladder  of  life."  But  the  great  French  zoologist,  Cuvier, 
at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  showed  that 
there  are  at  least  four  such  ladders — diverging  from  one 
another  and  quite  distinct  from  one  another — the  four 
"  branches "  he  called  them.  They  were,  according  to 
him,  the  radiated  animals  (star-fishes,  corals,  etc.),  the 
molluscous  animals  (snails,  clams,  cuttle-fish),  the  articu- 
lated animals  (crustaceans,  insects,  spiders  and  scorpions), 


TELL-TALE   YOUNG  STAGES  305 

and  the  vertebrated  animals  (fish,  reptiles,  birds  and 
mammals).  Still,  it  was  considered  that  in  each  great 
branch  the  animals  of  simplest  appearance  and  least 
elaborate  build  were  essentially  more  t{  primitive "  or 
"  lower  " — that  is,  lower  in  the  scale  of  nature — than  the 
more  highly  elaborated.  And  when  Darwin's  doctrine  of 
the  origin  of  the  living  kinds  of  animals  and  plants  from 
simpler  ancestors  by  gradual  development  in  long  ages  of 
time  was  established,  it  was  naturally  held  that  the 
simpler  forms  were  survivals  of  the  earlier  ancestral  forms 
of  the  more  complicated  kinds,  or  at  any  rate  showed 
more  or  less  clearly  what  the  ancestral  forms  were  like. 

The  recognition  of  so-called  "  degeneration,"  or,  to  use 
an  Irish  "bull,"  "progress  backwards"  or  simplification,  as 
a  sequel,  in  the  ancestral  history  of  many  animals,  to 
previous  high  development  and  complication  of  structure, 
has  rendered  it  necessary  to  take  account  of  the  fact  that 
any  simple  kind  of  animal  which  we  now  find  living,  may 
(not  "  very  probably,"  but  still  "  possibly  ")  be  the  simpli- 
fied descendant  of  much  more  highly  developed  and  com- 
plicated ancestors.  Anton  Dohrn,  who  founded  the  marine 
laboratory  at  Naples,  was  the  first  to  insist  on  this,  and 
I  gave  an  evening  lecture  on  the  subject  at  the  meeting 
of  the  British  Association  in  1879,  published  subse- 
quently under  the  title  "  Degeneration — a  chapter  in 
Darwinism."  A  very  important  fact  bearing  on  this 
matter  is  that,  although  such  simplified  animals  often  have 
young  stages  (such  as  the  Ascidian's  tadpole),  which  "  give 
away  "  the  adults  and  tell  the  story  of  their  former  high 
condition  and  their  true  blood  relationship  to  more  elab- 
orated creatures,  yet  often  such  tell-tale  young  stages  do 
not  occur.  There  are  many  Ascidians  which  have  no 
tadpole  stage,  but  grow  from  the  egg  straight  off  into  the 
sac-like  adult  condition,without  showing  a  trace  of  the  tad- 
pole structure  !  Supposing  (as  might  well  have  happened) 

20 


306  TADPOLES   OF  THE   SEA 

that  all  the  existing  Ascidians  had  lost  ("suppressed"  as 
the  phrase  is)  the  tadpole  stage  as  most  of  them  have, 
then  we  should  know  nothing,  or  very  little,  of  their  affinity 
to  vertebrates.  It  is,  as  it  were,  only  by  a  lucky  chance 
that  some  Ascidians  still  begin  their  life  by  going  through 
a  tadpole  stage,  and  so  betray  their  vertebrate  nature. 
Hence  we  have  to  remember  that  any  small  and  simple 
sort  of  animal  may  possibly  be  a  simplified  product  of 
more  perfect  and  active  ancestors,  although  it  shows  no 
early  stage  of  growth  of  a  reminiscent  character.  And 
we  have  to  seek  for  evidences  of  "  specialism  "  in  its  habits 
and  corresponding  structure  which  would  justify  the  sup- 
position that  it  is  not  really  "primitive"  in  its  character,  but 
simplified  by  excessive  development  of  one  set  of  organs  in 
correspondence  with  special  food  supply  or  means  of  safety. 
The  notion  that  the  course  of  evolution  or  ancestral 
development,  whether  of  the  structure  of  animals  and 
plants  or  of  the  capacities,  institutions,  and  activities  of 
human  races,  may  often  have  pursued,  not  a  continuous 
progressive  line  of  improvement,  but  a  relatively  back- 
ward movement  of  simplification  and  reduction,  is  of 
great  philosopic  importance.  Many  savage  races  are,  no 
doubt,  more  primitive  than  those  now  civilised,  and  pre- 
serve some  of  the  characters  of  primitive  man.  But  some 
savage  races  appear  to  be  the  descendants  of  ancestors 
who  had  attained  to  a  relatively  high  degree  of  civilisation, 
which  the  existing  stock  has  lost,  and  are  examples  of 
the  same  process  of  simplification  (often  called  "  degenera- 
tion"), as  that  which  we  see  in  the  Ascidian. 

A  curious  error  is,  it  seems  to  me,  made  by  those  who 
hold  that  the  simplication  or  "  degeneration  "  which  we 
see  in  the  Ascidians  and  in  a  good  many  other  animals  is 
due  to  a  true  retrogression  in  the  structure  of  the 
degenerating  organism,  the  latest  step  in  previous  pro- 


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THE   PEACOCK'S  TRAIN  307 

gress  being  lost  first,  and  then  the  step  which  preceded 
that,  and  so  on.  So  that  the  "  degenerating  "  or  "  retro- 
gressing "  animal,  or  plant,  or  human  race,  must  go 
steadily  back  on  the  very  path  by  which  its  race 
previously  advanced,  passing  in  reverse  order  through 
the  stages  of  its  former  progress.  I  know  of  no  evidence 
for  this.  The  simplifying  process  shown  in  specialised, 
quiescent,  well-fed  animals,  or  in  parasites,  does  not 
proceed  backwards  by  the  same  steps  or  along  the  same 
path  by  which  previous  progress  was  made.  The  special 
development  of  some  dominating  organ  or  character  is 
the  central  feature  of  the  simplifying  process,  and  affects 
all  the  degenerative  changes  which  take  place.  They 
are  not  repetitions  in  the  reversed  order  of  the  former  steps 
of  progress,  but  new  arrangements  of  the  whole  organism. 
An  instructive  and  typical  case  of  simplification  with 
specialisation  is  seen  in  certain  feathers  of  the  peacock's 
"  train "  (a  tail  which  is  not  formed  by  the  true  tail 
feathers,  but  consists  of  the  enlarged  tail  "  coverts  "  or 
covering  feathers,  the  true  tail  quills  of  a  dull  brown 
colour  forming  a  separate  group  hidden  from  view  by  the 
gorgeous  coverts).  The  ordinary  feathers  of  the  peacock's 
body  are  small,  symmetrical  feathers,  with  simple  colouring. 
We  find  near  the  peacock's  tail  a  series  of  feathers  which 
are  intermediate  steps,  leading  on  gradually  in  colour,  size, 
and  shape  from  the  simple  "  coverts  "  of  the  body  to  the 
great  eye-bearing,  metallic-looking  feathers  of  the  "  train  " 
which  the  bird  raises  in  display.  The  feathers  which 
constitute  these  intermediate  steps  have  the  two  sides 
right  and  left  of  the  shaft  equal,  and  show  a  series  of 

PLATE  XII. — Photographs  of  a  series  of  feathers  from  the  back  and  covering 
feathers  of  the  peacock's  "  train  "  showing  from  above  downwards  the 
gradual  increase  in  size  and  the  development  of  the  "  eye  "  and  coloured 
rings  of  the  larger  feathers.  From  a  preparation  placed  by  Sir  William 
Flower  in  the  central  hall  of  the  Natural  History  Museum. 


3o8  TADPOLES   OF  THE   SEA 

graduations  (Plate  XII),  commencing  with  a  small 
patch  of  blueish  colour,  from  which  they  lead  on  with 
increase  of  size  to  others  with  a  first  appearance  of  an 
incomplete  eye  and  of  some  metallic  green  iridescence, 
and  then  by  larger  and  more  strongly  coloured  examples 
up  to  the  great  feathers  with  the  sharply  marked 
eye-spot  and  ring  of  colour  and  shade  and  the  large 
green  iridescent  row  of  pieces  like  the  leaflets  of  a 
palm-leaf,  equal  in  size  and  brilliance,  on  each  side 
of  the  shaft.  But  at  the  sides  of  the  group  of  splendid 
eyed  feathers  we  find  another  series  of  gradations.  These 
are  a  "  degenerating,"  or  "  simplified "  series  (Plate 
XIII);  whereas  those  just  described  are  the  "pro- 
gressive series,"  leading  from  the  ordinary  body  feathers 
upwards  to  the  wonderful  eyed  feathers.  The  simplified 
lateral  feathers  are  as  long  as  the  big  eyed  feathers  ;  but 
as  we  pass  from  the  middle  towards  the  sides  of  the 
radiant  expanse  of  the  displayed  "  train  "  or  "  tail  "  these 
feathers  show  a  gradually  increasing  one-sidedness.  The 
eye-spot  itself  of  the  laterally  placed  feathers  becomes 
one-sided,  and  when  we  pass  along  the  series  towards  the 
side  we  find  that  it  disappears  entirely  !  The  iridescent 
green  colour  is  maintained  in  all  its  glory,  but  the  leaflets 
of  the  plume  (the  "  rami  "  or  "  barbs  "  as  they  are  called) 
dwindle  in  size  on  one  side  of  the  shaft,  and  become  fewer, 
but  very  large,  and  free  from  adhesion  to  one  another,  on 
the  other  side.  The  final  stage  shown  by  the  outermost 
feathers  of  the  group  is  that  of  a  long  shaft,  with  nothing 
on  it  but  a  few  large,  separate,  splendidly  green  "  rami," 

PLATE  XIII. — Photographs  of  a  series  of  large  "tail  coverts"  of  the  peacock's 
"train,"  showing  the  increasing  one-sidedness  as  one  proceeds  from 
the  central  to  the  outer  or  side-feathers  and  the  gradual  loss  of  the 
"  eye  "  with  the  retention  of  the  great  length  and  metallic  iridescence  by 
even  the  most  one-sided  and  simplified  feathers — those  on  the  right 
hand  side  of  the  lower  row.  From  a  preparation  placed  by  Sir  William 
Flower  in  the  central  hall  of  the  Natural  History  Museum, 


SIMPLIFICATION  OF  TRAIN-FEATHERS     309 

or  leaflets  confined  to  one  side  only.  A  specially 
arranged  series  of  these  feathers  is  shown  in  the  Natural 
History  Museum,  from  which  our  Plates  XII  and  XIII 
have  been  produced  by  photography. 

Assuredly  in  the  process  of  gradual  transition  from 
the  central  fully  developed  eyed  feather  of  the  peacock's 
train  to  the  one-sided  metallic  simplifications  at  the  sides 
of  the  group — degenerate  residues  of  the  gorgeousness  of 
the  complete  feather  ! — there  has  been  no  "  retrogression  " 
in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  no  yielding  or  disappear- 
ance step  by  step  of  characters  previously  developed,  in 
the  order  given  by  the  phrase,  "  latest  attained  first  to 
vanish."  On  the  contrary,  the  one-sidedness  is  a  new 
character,  and  is  gradually  increased  until  it  is  complete. 
The  large  size  of  the  feather  is  a  late  character,  and  is 
retained  !  The  freedom  of  the  rami  of  the  feather  from 
adhesion  to  one  another  is  a  very  late  character,  and  so  is 
the  metallic  iridescence.  Neither  of  these  disappears. 
Late  developed  and  highly  peculiar  features  are  retained, 
whilst  a  new  and  dominating  specialisation — that  of  one- 
sidedness — leads  to  the  total  disappearance  of  the  primitive 
characters  of  a  covert  feather,  and  also  to  the  disappear- 
ance of  the  shaded  eye-spot  and  ring,  which  is  the  common 
possession  of  all  the  larger  train-feathers,  and  is  not  a  late 
step  in  the  upward  gradation.  In  fact,  the  peacock's  train 
shows  us  that  the  simplification  of  organic  structure(spoken 
of  usually  as  "  degeneration  "),  which  often  arises  in  the 
course  of  evolution,  as  in  the  Ascidians,  the  parasitic 
crustaceans  and  worms  and  in  many  groups  of  plants, 
as  well  as  of  animals,  is  most  emphatically  a  totally 
different  thing  from  a  retracing  of  the  steps  of  progress. 
It  is  not  a  ''retrogression  " — a  return  along  the  steps  of 
previous  progression — but  a  simplification,  a  loss  of 
certain  parts,  accompanied  by  new  dispositions  and  inter- 
relations of  surviving  parts. 


CHAPTER   XXIII 
MUSEUMS 

THE  word  "museum"  is  not  one  of  those  which 
explain  themselves  and  give  an  indication  of  what 
the  thing  to  which  they  are  applied  should  be,  when  it 
has  ceased  to  be  what  it  was  intended  to  be.  In  ancient 
Greece  the  word  "  mouseion  "  meant  "  the  place  of  the 
Muses " — a  grove  or  a  temple — and  there  was  such  a 
place  on  a  part  of  the  Acropolis  of  Athens,  the  rocky 
temple-crowrned  hill  around  which  the  city  was  built. 
There  were  other  "  museums,"  or  seats  of  the  Muses,  in 
ancient  Greece ;  those  on  the  slopes  of  Mount  Helicon 
and  of  Mount  Olympus  were  the  most  famous.  In 
modern  times  a  picture  gallery  and  art  collection,  that  of 
the  Louvre,  in  Paris,  is  called  "  the  Musee,"  whilst  "  the 
Museum  "  (the  Latin  form  of  the  same  word)  is  the  name 
distinctively  applied  in  Paris  to  the  collections  of  natural 
history  and  the  laboratories  connected  with  them  in  the 
Jardin  des  Plantes.  In  London  "  the  British  Museum," 
founded  in  1753,  originally  comprised  the  national  library 
as  well  as  collections  of  antiquities  and  of  natural  history. 
In  Heidelberg  "the  Museum"  was  the  name,  when  I  was 
there,  for  a  delightful  club,  with  a  garden.  It  belonged 
to  the  professors,  their  families,  and  their  friends  in  the 
town,  and  concerts  and  dances  were  given  in  it.  It 
seems  that  the  Heidelberg  "  Museum  "  comes  nearest  to 


THE  MUSES  311 

the  original  meaning  of  the  word  as  "  a  seat  of  the  Muses," 
for  nearly  all  those  mythical  ladies  were  remarkable  for 
their  special  patronage  of  music,  dancing,  and  song. 

Who  were  these  goddesses,  the  Muses,  and  what  were 
their  names  ?  What  was  the  speciality  of  each,  and  how  do 
they  come  to  have  to  do  with  collections  of  works  of  art 
and  specimens  of  natural  history  ?  Two  learned  "  classi- 
cal "  friends  whom  I  lately  met  in  Paris  could  not  help 
me  further  than  by  giving  me  the  names  of  the  first  three. 
I  was  a  little  shocked,  but  the  next  evening  discovered 
that  these  goddesses  are,  in  modern  times,  very  generally 
neglected  and  ignored.  In  an  extremely  amusing  play, 
called  "  Le  Bois  Sacre  " — the  Sacred  Grove  (of  the  Muses) 
— a  name  applied  jocosely  to  the  Ministry  of  Fine  Arts — 
I  found  that  the  minister  of  that  department  was  repre- 
sented as  a  pompous  and  fatuous  person  who  completely 
fails  to  call  to  mind,  in  the  course  of  an  eloquent 
speech,  the  name  of  more  than  one  Muse.  On  ringing 
for  his  secretaries  and  airily  asking  them  to  refresh  his 
memory,  he  did  not  succeed  in  extracting  from  them 
more  than  two  doubtful  additions  to  his  list ! 

I  am  able,  nevertheless  (after  due  investigation),  to  put 
my  reader  in  possession  of  the  facts  so  unfamiliar  to  the 
modern  oracles  of  classical  mythology  !  Briefly,  it  appears 
that  in  the  best  period  of  ancient  Greece  nine  Muses  were 
recognised,  namely,  Calliope,  the  Muse  of  epic  poetry  ; 
Euterpe,  of  lyric  poetry ;  Erato,  of  erotic  poetry ; 
Melpomene,  of  tragedy  ;  Thalia,  of  comedy ;  Polyhymnia, 
of  sacred  hymns  ;  Terpsichore",  of  choral  song  and  dance  ; 
Clio,  of  history  ;  and  Urania,  of  astronomy.  The  last  two 
seem  to  have  very  little  in  common  with  the  addiction  to 
sinking  and  dancing  characteristic  of  the  rest,  and  are  the 
only  ones  who  can  be  imagined  as  feeling  themselves  at 
home  in  a  modern  museum,  excepting  on  those  evenings 
when  the  authorities  use  the  museum  (as  is  the  custom  in 


3i2  MUSEUMS 

London)  for  a  "  conversazione,"  enlivened  by  brass  bands 
and  songs. 

Apollo  was  said  to  be  the  leader  and  master  of  the 
Muses,  but  was  not  related  to  them.  They  were  in  origin 
the  "  nymphs  "  or  "  genii  "  of  mountain  streams  worshipped 
by  an  ancient  bardic  race  (resembling  our  own  sweet-singing 
Welsh  folk),  the  Thracians.  At  first  the  number  of  the 
Muses  was  indefinite,  and  they  had  no  names.  Then  three 
were  named — one  of  Meditation  (Melete"),  one  of  Memory 
(Mneme) ,  and  one  of  Song  (Aoide")  — a  much  prettier  embodi- 
ment of  the  impression  made  on  a  poetical  mind  by  rock- 
pools  and  cascades  and  leafy  gorges  than  the  formal  and 
redundant  nine  of  later  times.  One  can  associate  the 
primitive  three  with  a  museum  of  natural  history  ;  but  the 
later  official  goddesses,  each  insisting  on  her  own  depart- 
ment of  poetry,  are  too  clearly  representative  of  the  all- 
appropriating  pretensions  of  literature  in  modern  seats  of 
learning.  They  remind  me  of  the  enumeration  of  studies 
which  a  dear  old  head  of  an  Oxford  college  innocently 
regarded  as  complete  and  reasonable  when  he  assured  me 
that  all  branches  of  knowledge  were  fairly  and  equally 
represented  on  the  college  staff.  "We  have,"  he  said, 
"  a  lecturer  on  Greek  literature,  one  on  Latin  literature, 
one  on  Greek  history,  one  on  Roman  history,  one  on 
classical  philology,  one  on  modern  history,  one  on  mathe- 
matics and  one  on  the  natural  sciences."  What  more,  he 
asked,  could  you  wish  for  ? 

It  appears  that,  without  any  special  reference  to  the 
attributes  of  the  Muses,  the  word  ''museum"  has  been 
adopted  in  recent  times  for  a  building  in  which  collections 
of  works  of  art  and  specimens  of  natural  history  are 
housed,  and  even  for  the  collections  themselves — in  con- 
sequence of  the  foundation  by  the  Ptolemaic  Kings  of 
Egypt  of  a  splendid  institution  at  Alexandria  to  which  the 
name  museum  (mouseion)  was  given.  It  included  the 


THE   MUSEUM   OF   ALEXANDRIA  313 

great  library,  apparatus  for  the  study  of  astronomy, 
anatomy,  and  other  sciences,  and  collections  of  all  kinds. 
The  most  learned  men  were  employed  in  its  management 
and  were  lodged  there  and  provided  with  the  means  of 
study  and  teaching.  It  was  a  combination  of  university, 
learned  academy,  and  temple,  and  was  the  pride  of  the 
ancient  world.  It  survived  many  changes  of  lordship,  but 
at  last  the  library  and  collections  were  deliberately 
destroyed  by  Moslem  invaders  in  640  A.D.  The  precious 
manuscripts  were  served  out  as  fuel  for  the  public  baths, 
and  were  so  numerous  that  it  took  some  months  to  con- 
sume them  !  The  destruction  of  the  museum  of  Alexandria 
marks  the  commencement  of  the  "  Dark  Ages  "  ;  the 
ancient  culture  was  dead.  Eight  centuries  of  submer- 
gence with  strange  mysterious  upfloatings  were  its  fate 
until  the  Renascence,  when  its  fragments  were  recovered, 
and  soon  did  more  harm  than  good  to  the  fetish-worship- 
ping peoples  of  Europe. 

The  first  use  of  the  word  "  museum  "  in  this  country  for 
a  place  in  which  collections  of  ancient  works  of  art  and 
specimens  of  natural  history  were  stored  and  arranged  for 
exhibition  was  in  the  early  eighteenth  century,  when  it 
was  applied  to  the  building  at  Oxford,  erected  for  Mr. 
Ashmole's  collections,  presented  to  the  University.  This 
was  called  "Ashmole's  Museum,"  or  the  Ashmolean 
Museum.  Previously  such  a  collection  and  its  loca- 
tion were  spoken  of  as  "a  cabinet  of  rare  and  curious 
objects."  "  Museum  "  was  occasionally  used  for  what 
we  now  call  a  "study,"  and  even  to  describe  lecture- 
rooms  and  library.  I  have  not  been  able  to  discover 
that  the  word  was  used  in  its  modern  sense  at  an  earlier 
date  on  the  Continent  than  in  England.  The  first 
great  typical  example  of  a  "  museum  "  was  the  British 
Museum,  founded  in  1753.  Montagu  House,  in  Blooms- 


3i4  MUSEUMS 

bury,  was  purchased  by  the  State  to  serve  as  a  " repository" 
(the  word  used  in  the  Act  of  Parliament  of  that  date)  for 
the  vast  collections  of  natural  history  made  by  Sir  Hans 
Sloane,  with  which  were  associated  certain  valuable 
libraries  and  collections  of  manuscripts,  of  coins,  and 
antique  marbles.  A  large  part  of  the  money  required  for 
the  undertaking  was  raised  by  a  public  lottery,  over  which 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  and 
the  Speaker  presided  (according  to  the  custom  of  those 
days  in  regard  to  State  lotteries),  and  it  is  thus  that  this 
remarkable  group  of  great  officials  became,  and  have 
remained  ever  since,  "  the  Three  Principal  Trustees  of 
the  British  Museum."  Additional  trustees  were  named 
(since  increased  to  a  total  of  nearly  fifty),  and  provision 
was  made  for  the  appointment  of  a  principal  librarian  and 
other  curators  of  the  collections.  The  Act  declared  that 
the  collections  placed  in  the  "  repository"  (Montagu  House) 
were  to  remain  there  for  the  benefit  and  enjoyment  of 
posterity  for  ever — a  provision  which  until  seven  years  ago 
was  misinterpreted,  so  as  to  prevent  the  sending  out  of 
unnamed  and  unstudied  collections  of  small  portable 
objects  like  insects,  dried  plants,  and  shells,  to  be  named 
and  compared  with  other  specimens,  by  foreign  naturalists. 
Consequently,  there  was  a  great  accumulation  of  speci- 
mens unstudied  and  useless,  and  a  great  loss  to  knowledge. 
But  the  late  Lord  Chancellor  (Halsbury)  decided  that  it 
was  not  only  legally  within  the  power  of  the  trustees 
temporarily  to  remove  specimens  from  "the  repository" 
for  the  purpose  of  having  them  named  and  studied,  but 
.actually  their  duty  to  do  so. 

We  now  very  generally  recognise  in  Great  Britain,  as 
in  other  parts  of  the  civilised  world,  the  value  and  im- 
portance of  public  "museums  "in  the  sense  of  "reposi- 
tories of  collections  of  objects  of  ancient  and  modern  art 
and  of  natural  history."  Museums,  as  at  present  existing, 


PICTURE  GALLERIES  AND  MUSEUMS     315 

may  be  divided  into  four  kinds,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  public  or  private  bodies  by  which  they  have 
been  set  up  and  carried  on.  There  are,  first  of  all, 
national  museums  maintained  and  continually  increased 
by  the  expenditure  of  a  great  State,  and  placed  in  the 
capital  city  ;  secondly,  provincial  or  local  museums,  sup- 
ported by  a  municipality  or  by  local  munificence;  thirdly, 
academic  museums,  which  are  those  related  to  the 
instruction  and  investigations  carried  on  in  a  university 
or  a  school,  and  forming  part  of  its  regular  provision  for 
study ;  and,  fourthly,  the  museums  of  private  individuals 
(which  as  a  rule,  become  eventually  transferred  by  gift  or 
purchase  to  some  existing  public  museum). 

The  word  "  museum "  would,  and  often  does,  fitly 
include  picture  galleries,  but  very  usually  in  Great  Britain 
a  museum  is  not  considered  as  comprising  a  picture 
gallery,  and  a  picture  gallery  is  treated  and  managed  as 
something  distinct  from  "  a  museum."  The  distinction 
is  recognised  in  London,  where  we  have  as  separate  insti- 
tutions the  British  Museum  and  the  National  Gallery. 
Probably  the  distinct  method  of  exhibiting  and  caring  for 
pictures,  and  the  very  large  amount  of  special  knowledge 
connected  with  the  reasonable  employment  of  public  funds 
in  the  purchase  of  these  very  high-priced  objects,  as  well 
as  the  example  of  private  collectors  of  pictures,  are  the 
causes  which  have  led  in  the  past  to  the  complete 
separation  of  "picture  galleries "  from  "museums."  It 
is,  however,  a  curious  fact  that  the  British  Museum 
(which  once  possessed  some  oil  paintings,  now  removed  to 
other  public  galleries)  retains  and  expends  money  on  its 
splendid  collections  of  water-colour  pictures,  drawings, 
and  engravings,  whilst  in  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century 
(in  opposition  to  the  custom  of  separating  pictures  from 
other  museum  objects)  there  grew  up  in  London,  under 
the  State  Department  of  Education,  a  vast  collection  of  all 


3i6  MUSEUMS 

kinds  of  works  of  art  (pottery,  furniture,  lace,  metal-work, 
etc.)  of  all  countries  and  ages,  including  pictures,  which 
is  now  sumptuously  housed  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
Museum. 

Though  I  propose  to  write  here  with  special  reference 
to  "  museums,"  in  the  more  limited  sense  as  repositories 
of  objects  which  are  the  bases  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
history  of  man  and  his  arts,  and  as  the  storehouses  of 
specimens  which  in  the  same  way  are  the  material  by  the 
study  of  which  we  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the  history  of 
the  earth,  and  of  the  living  things  which  have  existed,  and 
of  others  which  still  exist  on  its  surface — yet  it  is  obvious 
that  the  general  purposes  of  all  collections  of  interesting 
objects  (including  even  pictures)  and  their  arrangement 
for  public  use  and  benefit  must  be  the  same,  although 
there  are  special  purposes  in  view  in  regard  to  some  col- 
lections which  do  not  exist  in  regard  to  others.  Not  long 
since  Mr.  Claude  Phillips  ably  set  forth  some  of  the 
principles  which  should  guide  the  arrangement  and  ex- 
hibition of  objects  in  an  art  museum,  and  criticised  the 
plan  at  present  adopted  in  the  Victoria  and  Albert 
Museum.  As  I  hold  views  in  regard  to  the  arrangement 
of  natural  history  museums  which  are  very  similar  to  his, 
I  think  it  may  be  useful  to  explain  here  what  they  are. 

I  may  point  out  that  nearly  every  branch  of  knowledge 
should  have — in  a  civilised  well-provided  community — its 
collection  of  material  objects,  either  specimens,  models,  or 
ancient  examples  and  remains,  which  should  be  "  records  " 
to  be  religiously  preserved  for  future  reference  and  com- 
parison by  expert  students,  whilst  others  should  be  there 
to  serve  as  demonstrations  of  "  great  "  facts  of  nature  or  of 
human  art — direct  and  straightforward  appeals — to  the 
ordinary  intelligent  (but  not  specially  learned)  man.  You 
might  well  have  (what  does  not  at  present  exist !)  a 
museum  (in  the  modern  sense)  of  astronomy,  containing 


THE   PURPOSES   OF   MUSEUMS  317 

models  of  the  solar  system  and  the  relative  distances  and 
sizes  of  the  heavenly  bodies  —  as  well  as  modern  and 
ancient  astronomical  instruments,  and  the  records  obtained 
by  their  use.  Again,  you  might  have  (and  to  some  extent 
such  museums  exist),  at  the  other  end  of  the  scale  in 
dignity  and  age,  a  museum  illustrating  the  history  and 
present  developments  of  the  smelting  of  iron  and  other 
metals,  their  purification,  their  alloying,  and  properties — 
as  also  a  museum  of  paper-making  and  one  of  the  steam 
engine  arid  its  modern  rivals.  In  such  cases  the  purpose 
of  the  museum  would  be  plain  enough  and  comparatively 
easy  to  carry  out. 

Most  museums  which  have  come  into  existence  within 
the  last  200  years  suffer  from  the  fact  that  they  are  mere 
enlargements  of  the  ancient  collector's  "  cabinet  of  rare 
and  curious  things,"  brought  together  and  arranged  with- 
out rhyme  or  reason.  No  one  has  ever  attempted  to  say 
what  is  precisely  the  aim  and  intention  as  a  public  enter- 
prise of  any  of  our  great  museums,  and  accordingly  there 
has  been  no  consideration,  discussion,  or  agreement,  as  to 
the  methods  of  collection,  selection,  arrangement,  exhibi- 
tion, and  storage  of  the  objects  assembled  within  their 
walls.  Thousands,  even  millions  of  pounds,  have  been 
expended  on  the  building  of  museums,  on  the  purchase  of 
specimens,  on  cases  and  cataloguing,  and  on  the  salaries 
of  directors,  and  keepers,  and  assistants,  yet  the  museums 
remain,  so  far  as  any  declaration  of  purpose  and  principle 
is  concerned,  mere  "  repositories,"  as  in  the  words  of  the 
old  Act  of  Parliament  constituting  the  British  Museum — 
for  the  use  and  enjoyment  of  the  public,  it  is  true,  but 
without  any  expression  of  a  conception  of  how  that  use 
and  enjoyment  is  to  be  limited  so  as  to  make  them  some- 
thing better  than  a  dime-show,  or  how  any  serious  purpose 
is  to  be  achieved  by  their  costly  housing  and  up-keep.  No 
doubt  various  directors  and  keepers  have  from  time  to 


318  MUSEUMS 

time  shown  intelligence  and  laboured  to  make  museums 
not  only  places  of  enjoyment  and  "edification,"  but  also 
the  means  of  increasing  knowledge  and  rendering  service 
to  the  State.  But  the  scope  of  our  public  museums,  and 
the  principles  and  methods  by  which  it  may  be  realised, 
have  never  been  agreed  upon,  and  consequently  are  not 
definitely  recognised  by  the  State  nor  by  the  curiously 
ill-chosen  committees  of  managers,  or  trustees,  to  whose 
tender  mercies  the  ultimate  control  of  these  institutions  is 
confided — apparently  by  haphazard  or  misapprehension. 

The  notion  of  a  town  corporation,  or  of  the  central 
government  at  this  or  that  date,  has  been  that  museums 
are  best  controlled  and  public  money  expended  in  con- 
nection with  them  by  persons  who  know  nothing  about 
the  real  importance  of  the  collections,  and  receive  no 
guidance  from  any  scheme  or  statutable  declaration  of 
specific  purpose  drawn  up  by  a  competent  authority.  I 
will  endeavour  to  state  what  those  purposes  should  be. 

When  one  tries  to  estimate  what  is  really  the  value  to 
the  community  of  public  "  museums,"  one  is  led  inevitably 
to  the  conclusion  that  their  most  important  purpose — 
whether  they  are  museums  of  natural  history,  of  antiqui- 
ties, or  of  art — is  to  serve  as  safe  and  permanent 
"  repositories"  (the  old  word  used  in  the  British  Museum 
Act  of  1753)  for  specimens  which  are  costly  and  difficult 
to  obtain — not  to  be  either  "picked  up"  or  readily 
"  housed  "  by  everybody,  and  at  the  same  time  of  real 
importance  as  "  records."  The  first  and  most  command- 
ing duty  of  those  who  set  up  and  maintain  a  public 
museum  is  to  preserve  actual  things  as  records — records  of 
the  existence  in  this  or  that  locality  of  each  kind  of  plant 
and  animal,  records  of  the  former  existence  of  extinct  plants 
and  animals,  with  irrefragable  certainty  as  to  the  locality 
and  the  exact  strata  in  which  they  were  found — records  of 
prehistoric  man,  his  weapons  and  art,  and  of  the  animals 


THE   FIRST  BUSINESS   OF   MUSEUMS       319 

found  with  them,  records  of  later  men,  from  the  earliest 
dawn  of  history  down  to  modern  times.  Everyone  is 
familiar  with  this  duty  of  the  State  and  of  local  public 
bodies,  when  it  is  a  matter  of  preserving  written  and 
printed  records.  They  are  preserved  in  various  public 
offices  and  libraries,  and  are  continually  being  studied 
by  experts  (volunteers  or  official)  and  copied  in  print, 
so  as  to  furnish  us  with  accurate  knowledge  of  the  past. 

It  is  the  first  and  leading  business  of  museums  to 
collect  and  preserve,  with  great  accuracy  as  to  the  locality 
and  circumstances  in  which  each  was  found,  the  actual 
concrete  things  which  are  the  records  of  Nature,  and  of 
the  various  stages  of  man's  arts  and  industries  in  every 
region  of  the  world,  just  as  a  library  or  the  Record  Office 
preserves  manuscripts  and  printed  documents  and  books. 
Collections  of  such  specimens  are  often  made  by  private 
individuals,  and  become  too  cumbersome  for  him  or  his 
heirs  to  keep  in  order.  They  are  then  frequently  given 
to  a  public  museum,  and  I  regret  to  say  in  many  pro- 
vincial museums  are  neglected  and  become  mere  rubbish, 
even  if  they  were  not  so  when  first  given.  Often  such 
gifts  are  rubbish  before  they  are  received,  and  should 
never  have  been  accepted.  But  in  a  great  many  instances 
the  local  museum  of  a  country  town  is  nothing  but  a 
rubbish-heap,  because  the  townspeople  will  not  spend  the 
money  necessary  to  obtain  the  services  of  a  capable 
curator  and  to  provide  cases,  labels,  catalogues,  and 
attendance.  The  town  councillors  usually  know  nothing 
about  the  museum  or  the  value  of  the  objects  gathered 
there,  and  do  not  recognise  the  duty  of  making  it  an 
orderly  and  carefully  tended  storehouse  of  the  records  of 
Nature  and  antiquity  of  the  neighbourhood.  Too  fre- 
quently the  town  museum  is  made  the  means  of  gratify- 
ing the  vanity  of  some  local  collector,  who  hands  over  all 
sorts  of  ill-chosen,  badly  preserved  specimens  to  its 


320 


MUSEUMS 


ignorant  guardians,  and  is  advertised  by  labels  on  the 
cases  and  by  votes  of  thanks,  whilst  valuable  records 
placed  there  in  a  previous  generation  are  swept  into  a 
corner  or  broken  and  cast  into  the  cellar  in  order  to  make 
space  for  the  new  rubbish  ! 

Unless  funds  are  found  to  place  a  specially  educated 
man  at  the  head  of  a  local  museum,  the  museum  had 
better  be  shut,  and  such  of  its  contents,  as  may  be  desired, 
offered  to  one  of  the  big  city  museums  or  to  the  National 
Museum  in  London.  It  is  no  child's  play,  maintaining 
and  guarding  efficiently  a  museum  which  contains 
"  records."  It  would  be  a  good  thing  were  a  committee 
of  naturalists  and  antiquaries  to  visit  the  local  museums 
of  the  United  Kingdom  and  Report  on  the  efficiency  of 
their  guardianship  and  the  state  of  the  treasures  which 
they  contain.  I  know  two  provincial  museums  very  well 
in  which  extremely  valuable  records  of  prehistoric  man 
and  of  wonderful  extinct  animals — found  in  the  neighbour- 
hood and  preserved  by  those  who  established  the  museums 
fifty  years  ago — are  utterly  neglected  and  destroyed  by 
loss  of  the  labels  and  mixing  up  of  the  specimens,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  death  of  the  persons  originally  interested 
in  the  museum  and  of  the  refusal  of  the  town  councils  to 
find  money  to  pay  for  the  care  of  the  collections.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  in  the  present  state  of  local 
interest  in  such  matters  all  really  important  record  speci- 
mens should  find  their  way  to  the  British  Museum  in 
London,  where,  if  accepted,  their  preservation,  so  far  as  it 
is  humanly  possible,  is  assured.  That  is  the  distinctive 
and  most  creditable  feature  of  our  great  State-supported 
museum.  At  the  same  time  it  seems  obvious  that  the 
records  of  a  provincial  area  can  be,  and  should  be,  kept  in 
the  county  town  museum  with  a  detail  and  completeness 
impossible  elsewhere,  and  that  it  should  be  the  pride  of 
the  county  to  be  able  to  show  to  a  stranger  full  records  of 


NATIONAL    VALUE    OF    MUSEUMS        321 

the  distinctive  features  of  its   natural   history  and  anti- 
quities. 

It  is  clear  that  whatever  failures  in  this  respect  may  be 
inevitable    in  those  hopelessly  starved  and  mismanaged 
"museums"  at  present  surviving  to  bear  witness  to  the 
decay   of    public    spirit    and    intelligent    culture    in    our 
country    towns,    the    prime    duty  of  the    great    London 
museum    is    to    preserve    "  records "    with    the    greatest 
nicety   and    readiness  for    reference,  whilst    the    duty  of 
actively   adding    to    these  records  from  all  parts  of  the 
Empire,    and,    therefore,    of    the    world,    and    that    of 
minutely  studying    and    reporting    upon    the  collections 
so  obtained  and  guarded,  follow  as  a  matter  of  course. 
These  collections  are    the    absolutely  necessary   founda- 
tion for    the   building-up   of   our    knowledge  of    Nature 
and  of   man.      We  can    never    say  that    this  branch  of 
scientific    knowledge    is    valuable  and  that  another  is  a 
mere  fanciful  pursuit.    Every  year  it  becomes  more  and 
more  clear  that  unexpectedly  some  apparently  insignifi- 
cant piece  of  detailed  scientific  knowledge  may  become 
of  value  to  the  State  and  to  humanity  at  large.     Every- 
one knows  that    geology  has  a    great  practical  value  in 
mining,  water  supply,  and  various  kinds  of  engineering, 
also    that    botany,   as    represented    by    the    great    State 
institution    at  Kew,  is  of  immense  value    to  those  who 
introduce  useful  plants  from  one  part  of   the  world  for 
cultivation  in  another.     But   of  late  we  have  seen  that 
entomology — "bug-hunting"  as  it   is  scornfully   termed 
—is  a  science   upon    which    hang  not  only  the  revenue 
of   an  Empire,  but    also    the    lives  of  millions  of   men. 
Destructive    insects    must    be    known    with    the   utmost 
accuracy  in  order  to  stop    their    injury  to  crops  in  the 
distant  lands  which    they  inhabit,  and  also  in  order  to 
check   the    diseases    carried   by  them   which    sweep   off 
vast    herds    of   costly  cattle.     The   mosquitoes    and  the 

21 


322 


MUSEUMS 


tsetze-flies  have  been,  only  recently,  proved  to  be  the 
causes,  the  carriers,  of  diseases — malaria,  yellow  fever, 
and  sleeping  sickness  —  which  annually  have  killed 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  men,  colonists  as  well  as 
natives.  I  was  able  to  bring  together  at  the  Natural 
History  Museum  collections  of  mosquitoes  from  every 
part  of  the  world,  amounting  to  thousands  of  specimens 
and  to  some  hundreds  of  kinds.  The  study  of  these  and 
of  the  tsetze-flies  by  skilled  entomologists  employed  in  the 
museum  has  been  a  necessary  part  of  the  steps  now  being 
taken  everywhere  to  preserve  human  population  from  the 
attacks  of  certain  deadly  kinds  among  them,  distinguished 
from  the  others  which  are  harmless. 

Thus,  then,  it  seems  that  the  first  and  most  important 
purpose  for  which  great  "museums  "  exist  is  that  of  "  the 
making  of  new  knowledge  " — the  increase  of  science — by 
furnishing  carefully  gathered  and  preserved  "  specimens  " 
of  all  kinds,  and  by  working  out  the  history  and  signifi- 
cance of  those  collections.  But  there  is  a  second  and 
distinct  purpose  which  is  often  ignorantly  put  in  the  first 
place.  It  is  of  less  importance  and  quite  unlike  the  first 
in  the  methods  necessary  for  its  attainment,  and  yet  is 
conveniently  and  satisfactorily  carried  out  in  conjunction 
with  the  first.  This  second  and  distinct  purpose  is  the 
exhibition  of  such  portions  of  the  collections  in  a  museum 
as  are  suitable  for  exhibition  (only  a  smaller  portion  are 
so)  in  public  galleries,  so  chosen,  arranged,  lighted  and 
labelled  as  to  afford  to  the  public  at  large  the  maximum 
of  enjoyment  and  edification.  This  is,  as  it  were,  a  readily 
accessible  enjoyment  given  to  the  public  in  recognition  of 
the  large  sums  of  public  money  expended  on  the  severer 
and  less  easily  appreciated  enterprise  of  the  museum.  The 
public  galleries  of  a  museum,  whether  of  natural  history, 
antiquities  or  art,  should  not  contain  the  bulk  of  the 
collection,  but  only  special  things,  carefully  selected,  and 


UNIVERSITY    MUSEUMS  323 

equally  carefully  placed  in  case  or  on  wall,  with  artistic 
judgment  as  to  space-bordering  and  colour  of  background, 
and  with  scientific  perfection  of  illumination,  so  as  to 
produce  the  "just  "  impression  on  the  leisurely  visitor. 
The  public  "exhibit  "  should  be  arranged  so  as  to  draw 
attention  to  a  series  of  important  facts  of  structure  or 
quality  clearly  shown  by  the  specimens,  whether  they  are 
natural  products  or  works  of  art,  and  these  facts  should  be 
described  in  printed  labels  fully,  and  the  reason  for  attaching 
importance  to  them  explained  at  sufficient  length.  The 
man  who  arranges  the  public  galleries  (as  distinct  from 
the  closed  study-rooms)  of  a  public  museum,  should  have 
a  special  gift  of  exposition  in  plain  language,  and  be  able 
to  separate  (both  in  regard  to  his  words  and  to  the  speci- 
mens he  selects)  the  essential  from  the  non-essential,  the 
significant  from  the  redundant. 

It  is  important  to  make  a  complete  distinction  between 
an  exhibition  intended  for  the  general  public  and  that 
intended  for  advanced  students  in  schools,  colleges  and 
universities.  The  confusion  of  these  two  kinds  of  exhi- 
bition is  the  cause  of  the  failure  of  many  museums  and  ol 
the  dislike  with  which  most  people  regard  a  visit  to  them. 
The  public  museum — metropolitan  or  local — should  not 
include  in  its  purpose  the  "  academic  "  instruction  of 
schoolboys  and  university  students.  That  requires  a 
different  kind  of  museum,  which  is  (or  should  be)  provided 
by  the  school  or  university,  though,  of  course,  the  students 
should  also  visit  the  more  popular  museums.  The  funds  and 
staff  and  space  required  for  the  one  are  not  sufficient  for 
both.  If  both  are  attempted,  the  unpopular  academic,  or 
scholars',  exhibition  will  get  the  upper  hand  and  suppress 
the  other,  since  it  is  a  far  easier  thing  to  carry  out  success- 
fully (for  the  class  aimed  at)  than  is  the  carefully  planned 
exhibition  intended  for  the  "  edification  "  of  the  greater 
public.  The  university  museum  aims  at  imparting  a  much 


324 


MUSEUMS 


greater  amount  of  detailed  and  elaborate  information  than 
does  the  great  public  museum,  and  requires  from  the 
student  who  uses  it  a  special  previous  study  of  the  subject, 
and  an  exceptional  amount  of  attention  and  pains  in 
examining  the  objects  exhibited. 

Too  many  of  the  public  museums  of  Europe  aim  at  the 
"  instruction  "  of  the  special  student  rather  than  at  the 
"  edification"  of  the  general  public,  whilst  most  aim  at 
nothing  at  all  except  showing,  without  explanation  or 
comment,  a  vast  mass  of  specimens  or  pictures,  at  the 
sight  of  which  the  patient  but  bored  public  gapes  with 
wonder.  The  public  galleries  of  the  Natural  History 
Museum  in  London  have  been  arranged  more  distinctly 
with  a  view  to  the  edification  of  the  public  than  those  of 
any  other  museum  which  I  know.  But  they  still  contain 
too  large  a  number  of  specimens,  and  still  require  an  im- 
mense amount  of  work  in  weeding,  selection  and  labelling, 
and  in  deliberately  making  the  specimens  exhibited  tell  a 
tale  which  is  worth  remembering;  and  can  be  remembered. 
Except  in  the  case  of  the  larger  specimens,  and  especially 
those  of  fossilised  skeletons  and  shells  of  extinct  animals, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  the  bulk  of  the  specimens 
(and,  indeed,  all  the  valuable  skins  of  animals  and  birds, 
and  the  vast  series  of  insects  and  such  small  things)  in 
that,  as  in  every  other  large  museum,  are  contained  in 
cabinets  protected  from  the  destructive  action  of  light, 
and  arranged  for  the  most  part  in  rooms  to  which  access 
is  obtained  only  by  serious  workers  after  special  appli- 
cation. The  fishes  and  other  animals  preserved  in  alcohol 
are  kept  in  a  special  fire-proof  "  spirit-building." 

A  provincial  public  museum,  even  if  it  does  not  aim  at 
the  guardianship  of  important  local  "  records  "  of  natural 
history  and  antiquity,  should  aim  at  the  edification  of  the 
public — the  grown-up  public — and  not  at  the  instruction 
of  school  children.  The  notion  that  museums  are  meant 


NOT  FOR  CHILDREN   BUT  FOR  ADULTS    325 

for  children,  which  exists,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  even  in 
regard  to  so  splendid  and  expensive  a  display  of  wonderful 
things  as  that  to  be  seen  at  the  Natural  History  Museum, 
is  due  to  the  bad  tradition  justified  by  the  condition  of 
other  museums,  where  a  child  may  enjoy  being  astonished, 
but  a  grown-up  person  can  take  in  nothing  which  appeals 
to  the  intelligence.  A  new  city  museum  is,  it  is  reported, 
to  be  established  at  Birmingham.  We  may  hope  that  it 
will  not  contain  the  usual  unsatisfactory  series  of  badly 
stuffed  exotic  animals,  birds,  and  reptiles,  and  trophies  of 
South  Sea  islanders'  clubs  and  spears.  It  should  contain 
first-rate  specimens  of  the  living  and  extinct  fauna  of 
Warwickshire,  and  specimens  of  foreign  animals  carefully 
selected  to  compare  with  them  and  throw  light  on  them  ; 
also  local  prehistoric  and  antiquarian  specimens,  illus- 
trated by  comparison  with  the  work  of  savage  and  remote 
races.  The  excellent  suggestion  has  been  made  that  it 
should  contain  specimens  of  the  insect-pests  of  Warwick- 
shire crops.  It  should  also  exhibit  the  minerals  from  which 
the  manufactories  of  Birmingham  draw  their  metals,  and 
should  show  the  stages  of  their  preparation.  It  should 
appeal,  not  to  the  boys  and  girls  of  Birmingham  in  the 
first  place,  but  to  the  adults,  and  to  do  this  it  should  be 
placed  under  the  care  of  a  really  first-rate  and  ingenious 
man,  who  might  possibly  do  for  the  Birmingham  Museum 
what  skilful  arrangement  and  sound  knowledge  have  done 
for  its  Art  Gallery — an  institution  intended  to  appeal  not 
to  school  children,  but  to  the  reasonable  adult  population 
of  the  city. 

The  principle  of  exhibiting  permanently  in  public  gal- 
leries a  portion  of  our  great  national  collections  and  of 
preserving  another  and  larger  portion  in  smaller  rooms, 
where  they  can  be  more  closely  but  not  less  carefully 
disposed  and  brought  out  into  perfect  light  and  position 
when  required,  should  be  applied  to  collections  of  pottery, 


326  MUSEUMS 

metal-work,  carving,  embroidery  and  such  objects,  and 
also  to  pictures  as  well  as  to  collections  relating  to  natural 
history.  The  chief  reason  for  this  is  the  enormous  space 
required  in  order  to  place  permanently  "  on  exhibition  " 
all  the  objects  contained  in  our  national  art  collections, 
which  are  continually  growing.  The  vast  size  of  the 
galleries' required,  if  the  entire  collections  are  to  be  ex- 
hibited so  that  the  public  may  walk  in  and  see  anything 
and  everything  in  it,  permanently  displayed  on  walls  or 
in  cases — entails  gigantic  and  ever-increasing  expenditure 
of  public  funds. 

But  this  is  not  the  only  objection  to  these  great  gal- 
leries. The  multitude  of  objects — it  may  be  of  pictures — 
exhibited  creates  a  state  of  mind  in  the  visitor  which 
prevents  his  enjoyment  of  the  works  of  art  so  exhibited. 
He  is  overwhelmed  by  the  vastness  of  the  series  offered 
for  his  examination  and  confused  and  distressed  by  the 
close  setting  of  things  which  require  isolation  and  appro- 
priate surroundings,  each  in  its  own  special  way,  if  they 
are  to  be  duly  appreciated.  Not  only  this,  but  pictures,  as 
well  as  other  works  of  art,  are,  in  consequence  of  the 
necessity  of  placing  them  all  in  the  great  public  galleries 
used  for  the  purpose,  rarely  placed  in  the  most  favour- 
able conditions  of  lighting,  and  are  very  often  so  ill- 
lighted  as  to  lose  all  their  beauty  even  if  they  are  not 
nearly  invisible.  More  public  money  would  be  available 
for  the  proper  care  and  study  of  works  of  art  were  less 
spent  on  the  land,  building  and  up-keep  necessary  for 
huge  galleries. 

The  desirability  of  separating  a  large  unexhibited 
portion  from  the  well-chosen  and  well-shown  exhibited 
portion  of  works  of  art,  exclusive  of  pictures,  is,  I 
believe,  generally  admitted.  In  the  case  of  pictures 
the  opinion  has  been  expressed  that  there  would 
be  great  difficulty  in  managing  a  reserved  unexhibited 


SCREENS    AND    ELECTRIC    LIFTS          327 

portion  of  our  national  collections  so  that  the  pictures 
could  be  properly  cared  for  and  yet  readily  brought 
into  view  when  required.  One  can  well  believe  that 
a  similar  difficulty  was  anticipated  when  it  was  first 
proposed  to  keep  books  on  shelves  instead  of  on  tables. 
Those  who  take  this  objection  have  overlooked  the 
resources  of  modern  engineering.  Reserved  pictures 
could  be  affixed  in  perfect  security  in  appropriate  groups 
on  large  screens,  and  these  disposed,  like  the  scenery 
above  a  stage,  upright  and  in  series,  each  screen  4  ft. 
distant  from  its  neighbours.  There  could  be  three  or 
four  floors  of  such  closely  packed  screens  arranged  in  two 
rows,  twenty  in  a  row.  On  a  lower  floor  there  would  be 
provided  a  room  with  the  most  perfect  light  possible  for 
seeing,  enjoying  and  studying  a  single  one  of  these  screens. 
They  would  all  be  numbered  and  the  pictures  on  each 
catalogued.  A  person  duly  authorised  and  approved 
desires  to  see  such  and  such  a  picture.  He  is  given  a 
seat  in  the  special  exhibition  room.  The  attendant  or 
assistant  in  charge  touches  the  appropriate  button,  and  by 
simple  electric-lift  machinery  the  screen  upstairs  carrying 
the  desired  picture  travels  automatically  into  position  and 
then  gently  descends  into  the  special  exhibition  room. 
There  the  other  pictures  on  the  screen  may  be,  if  it  be  so 
desired,  covered  by  drapery,  the  light  may  be  varied  in 
intensity  or  .direction,  and,  in  fact,  the  most  perfect 
examination  of  the  picture  in  question  may  be  made. 
When  another  button  is  touched,  the  picture-screen 
returns  automatically  to  its  place  upstairs. 

It  seems  to  me  that  in  the  case  of  the  growing  collec- 
tion of  pictures  known  as  "  The  National  Portrait 
Gallery,"  this  treatment  would  not  only  avoid  the 
necessity  of  constantly  providing  new  galleries  for  new 
acquisitions — but  would  enable  the  Trustees  to  separate 
those  portraits,  which  are  of  more  general  interest  and 


328  MUSEUMS 

suitable  for  permanent  exhibition  in  a  good  position,  from 
less  important  portraits^  which  nevertheless  must  be 
acquired  and  preserved  as  public  records.  From  time  to 
time  special  groups  of  the  reserved  or  unexhibited  por- 
traits might  be  put  for  six  months  in  one  of  the  public 
rooms — thus  providing  a  change  and  variety  of  interest 
for  the  general  public. 

The  same  plan  might  be  adopted  with  regard  to  the 
pictures  in  the  National  Gallery — though  no  doubt  a  large 
number  of  splendid  pictures  would  be  permanently  placed 
in  the  exhibition  rooms.  Three  things  should  be  remem- 
bered in  regard  to  the  disposal  of  these  pictures  :  Firstly, 
that  not  one  in  a  hundred  among  them  was  intended  by 
the  painter  to  be  hung  in  a  gallery  closely  side  by  side 
with  other  pictures ;  secondly,  that  no  picture  should  be 
exhibited  in  a  public  gallery  unless  it  is  worthy  of  the  best 
lighting  and  surroundings  ;  thirdly,  that  it  is  reasonable 
that  the  expert  and  the  student  should  be  asked  to  take 
some  special  trouble  in  order  to  see  special  pictures  not 
on  public  exhibition,  and  that  "  the  man  in  the  street  " 
who  says  that  he  likes  to  walk  in  and  see  all  his  pictures 
at  any  time  and  without  any  trouble,  will  value  his  collec- 
tion more  when  he  can  only  see  some  of  it  on  special 
occasions. 

The  heavy  and  sometimes  fragile  character  of  the 
" frames"  affixed  to  large  pictures  has  been  made  an 
objection  to  the  proposal  that  they  should  be  fixed  to 
screens  moved  by  electric  gear.  I  cannot  venture  to  dis- 
cuss the  subject  of  picture-frames  here.  I  am  aware  that 
it  is  a  very  serious  and  important  subject,  and  that  a  great 
deal  of  the  effect  of  a  picture  depends  on  its  being 
bordered  by  a  frame  of  sufficient  size  and  dignity  and  one 
which  is  really  and  artistically  fitted  to  allow  the  finer 
qualities  of  the  picture  to  become  apparent.  How  often 
is  such  a  frame  seen  ?  Who  is  there  who  has  an  adequate 


FRAMES  AND   SETTING  OF   PICTURES    329 

understanding  of  picture-frames  as  adjuncts  to,  or  neces- 
sary accompaniments  of,  great  pictures  ?  The  splendid 
carved  and  gilded  wooden  frames  of  some  great  pictures 
have  a  value  of  their  own  as  examples  of  design.  But 
how  many  of  them  are  really  suited  to  the  picture  which 
they  surround  ?  How  much  attention  has  been  given  by 
art  experts  to  the  question  of  the  best  possible  "  exhi- 
bitional  "  surroundings — nearer  and  more  distant— for 
this,  that  and  the  other,  among  the  great  pictures  of 
Europe  ? 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
THE    SECRET    OF    A    TERRIBLE    DISEASE 

THIS  generation,  which  is  so  thankless  to  the  great 
discoverers  of  the  causes  of  disease,  so  forgetful  of 
the  epoch-making  labours  of  the  English  sanitary  re- 
formers of  last  century,  has  not  seen  nor  even  heard  of  the 
awful  thing  once  known  as  "  gaol-fever."  A  hundred 
years  ago  it  was  as  dangerous  to  the  life  of  an  unhappy 
prisoner  to  await  his  trial  in  Newgate  as  to  stand  between 
the  opposing  forces  on  a  battlefield.  Gaol-fever  attacked 
not  only  the  prisoners,  but  the  judge  and  the  jury  and  the 
strangers  in  the  court.  The  aromatic  herbs  with  which 
the  hall  of  justice  was  strewn  were  supposed  to  arrest  the 
spread  of  the  terrible  infection,  and  it  is  still  customary 
to  provide  with  a  bouquet  of  such  plants  the  judge  who 
presides  at  a  "  gaol  delivery."  The  inexorable  ministers 
of  justice,  who,  seated  high  above  the  common  herd,  and 
clad  in  their  ancient  robes  of  office,  were  about  to  deal 
shameful  death  to  the  guilty  wretches  brought  from  the 
prison  cells,  were  often  themselves  struck  down  by  the 
Angel  of  Death  moving  invisibly  through  the  court.  The 
"  black  assizes  "  were  not  isolated,  but  repeated  occur- 
rences in  our  great  cities.  Typhus  fever  was  the  name 
given  by  the  learned  to  this  awful  pestilence.  There  was 
a  mystery  and  horror  surrounding  it  which  paralysed  those 
who  came  into  contact  with  it,  and  produced  something 
like  consternation.  Men  fled  in  terror  from  the  infected 


THE    ANGEL    OF    DEATH  331 

buildings,  business  was  arrested,  the  universities  deserted, 
palaces  left  empty,  and  the  dying  abandoned  to  their 
misery  when  it  appeared.  There  was  a  feeling  that  some 
deadly  unseen  power  was  present,  irresistible  and  malig- 
nant. 

It  is  only  to-day — in  fact,  within  the  last  two  years — 
that  we  have  learnt  what  that  unseen  power  was.  The 
Angel  of  Death  which  moved  through  the  Old  Bailey 
Sessions  House  in  bygone  days  was,  indeed,  a  living  thing. 
It  passed  silently  and  unseen  from  the  prisoner  to  the 
warder,  from  him  to  the  usher,  thence  to  the  bar — the 
jury  and  the  exalted  judge.  It  had  no  wings,  yet  it  moved 
slowly  and  surely  carrying  black  death  with  it.  This 
terrible  and  mysterious  assassin  has  at  last  been  unveiled. 
The  shroud  of  concealment  has  been  torn  away  and  there 
the  dire  monster  stands — naked,  remorseless  and  hideous. 
It  is  of  small  size,  though  it  makes  us  all  shrink  with 
horror  and  disgust.  It  has  six  claw-like  legs  and  no 
wings.  It  is,  in  fact,  neither  more  nor  less  than  the 
clothes  louse,  the  Pediculus  vestimenti.  The  filthy, 
crowded  condition  in  which  the  prisoners  were  kept,  and 
(let  us  well  remember  and  reflect  thereon)  the  personal 
want  of  cleanliness  of  judge,  jury,  barristers  and  ushers, 
rendered  the  existence  of  the  little  parasite  and  its  effec- 
tive transference  from  man  to  man  possible.  Those  pom- 
pous emblems  of  authority,  the  horsehair  wigs — those 
musty  robes  of  unctuous  dignity — were  full  of  dirt,  and 
harboured  the  wandering  bearer  of  typhus  infection. 
Gaol-fever  was  due  to  dirt ;  its  infecting  germs  were  dis- 
tributed by  loathsome  insects. 

It  is  an  interesting  and  really  instructive  thing  to  pass 
in  review  the  gradual  process  by  which  the  cleanliness  of 
the  population  of  Western  Europe  has  advanced,  and  to 
observe  that,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  the  end  pur- 
sued has  been,  step  by  step,  the  removal  from  man's  body 


332    THE   SECRET   OF   A   TERRIBLE    DISEASE 

(outside  and  inside),  from  his  clothing,  from  the  water  he 
drinks,  from  the  food  he  eats,  from  the  air  he  breathes, 
and  from  the  surfaces  with  which  he  necessarily  comes 
into  contact,  of  injurious  parasites  and  hurtful  living  things 
which  lurk  in  dirt  and  rubbish.  At  first  the  larger  and 
more  obvious  hurtful  creatures — snakes,  rats,  mice,  scor- 
pions, blowflies — were  eliminated  by  some  elementary 
attempts  at  removal  of  rubbish  and  kitchen  middens. 
Then  ticks  (which  African  savages  still  do  not  trouble 
to  remove  from  their  bodies)  and  later  fleas  and  bugs 
became  unpopular ;  lice  were  long  regarded  as  inevitable, 
and  even  beneficial,  and  by  some  populations  and  by  parts 
of  the  most  civilised  at  the  present  day,  are  still,  not 
merely  tolerated,  but  favoured.  In  a  country  school  in 
France  a  child  who  was  found  to  be  afflicted  in  this  way 
was  the  daughter  of  the  local  medical  practitioner.  She 
remarked,  "  Oh  !  Ce  n'est  rien ;  papadit  que  c'est  la  sante 
des  enfants"  !  Parasitic  worms  of  various  kinds,  though 
they  often  cause  disease  and  death,  are  accepted  and 
tolerated  even  by  the  most  refined  and  luxurious,  who  risk 
infection  rather  than  submit  to  the  precaution  of  abstention 
from  raw  vegetables  and  fruits,  or  to  the  expenditure  of 
trouble  in  cleansing  those  nests  of  infective  germs.  It  is 
only  within  the  last  thirty  or  forty  years  that  such  cleanli- 
ness of  body  and  of  clothing  and  of  house-fittings  as  will 
banish  parasitic  insects  has  become  at  all  general.  The 
common  house-fly  is  still  tolerated,  although  it  is  a 
notorious  carrier  of  dirt  and  disease,  and  is  bred  by  dirt 
and  dirt  only,  its  eggs  being  hatched  in  old  stable  manure. 
The  diminution  of  late  years  of  house-flies  in  London 
houses  is  simply  and  solely  due  to  legislation  compelling 
the  removal  of  horse  manure  from  the  "  mews  "  so  frequent 
at  the  back  of  London  streets.  Egyptian  natives  still 
allow  flies  to  gather  on  their  eyelids  without  protest. 
Of  the  bacteria  and  similar  microscopic  germs  of 


THE    TYRANNY    OF    PARASITES  333 

disease — to  which  all  our  infective  fevers  are  due — we 
have  only  become  aware  quite  recently,  within  the  half- 
century.  Before  they  were  known  cleanliness  and  the 
destruction  of  putrescible  matter  in  man's  surroundings 
had,  it  is  true,  been  urged  by  sanitary  reformers.  Dis- 
infectants and  antiseptics  were  deliberately  made  use 
of  for  this  purpose  in  the  mid-Victorian  period,  when 
carbolic  acid  and  chlorinated  lime  were  established  in  the 
place  of  those  feebler  destroyers  of  the  germs  of  putre- 
faction and  disease — namely,  the  extracts  of  aromatic 
herbs  or  the  essential  oils  themselves.  These,  as  perfumes 
and  unguents,  really  served,  not  merely  to  gratify  the 
olfactory  sense,  but  to  destroy  by  their  chemical  action 
the  germs  of  disease.  Men  tolerated  gnats  and  their 
bites  (mosquitoes  as  we  prefer  to  call  them  in  order  to 
delude  ourselves  into  tlie  belief  that  they  are  not  British) 
until  it  was  discovered  that  they,  and  they  only,  carry  the 
parasitic  germs  of  two  deadly  diseases — malaria,  or  ague, 
and  yellow  fever.  Now  we  shall  destroy  the  pools  in 
which  they  breed,  just  as  we  are  destroying  the  manure 
heaps  in  which  the  house-fly  breeds.  When  we  look  over 
the  list  it  is  really  astonishing  how  much  remains  to  be 
done,  even  in  England,  in  establishing  increased  clean- 
liness and  freeing  ourselves  from  the  murderous  tyranny  of 
parasites.  It  is  a  simple  but  horrible  fact  that  the  poorest 
class  in  our  big  cities  still  swarms  with  vermin.  And  not 
only  are  the  poor  in  great  cities  thus  afflicted.  The  recent 
compulsory  medical  inspection  of  school  children  has 
shown  that  in  some  of  the  smiling  rural  districts  of 
England  80  per  cent,  of  the  children  have  lice  in  their 
heads.  Everyone  should  help  to  gain  further  cleanliness 
and  freedom  from  this  form  of  oppression. 

In  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  England  alone, 
and  with  absolute  conviction  and  determination,  demon- 
strated to  the  civilised  world  the  beneficial  results  in 


334    THE  SECRET  OF  A  TERRIBLE  DISEASE 

diminishing  the  death-rate  of  large  towns,  to  be  obtained 
by  cleanliness,  the  destruction  or  removal  from  man's  body 
and  surroundings  of  organic  "  dirt,"  viz.  his  excreta,  the 
exudations  and  exuviations  of  his  body,  the  waste  and 
fragments  of  his  food.  The  names  of  Rawlinson,  Chadvvick 
and  Simon  remain  as  those  of  the  prime  movers  in  that 
legislation  which  has  given  us  improved  water  supply, 
sewerage,  removal  of  dust  heaps,  clearance  of  cesspits, 
cleansing  of  houses,  and  prevention  of  overcrowding.  Yet 
there  are  writers  who,  in  ignorance  and  infected  with  the 
modern  madness  which  makes  half-educated  Englishmen 
presume  to  teach  where  they  have  yet  to  learn,  and  to 
pose  as  prophets  by  belittling  and  running  down,  without 
regard  to  truth,  their  own  country  and  its  finest  efforts  in 
the  cause  of  civilisation,  actually  declare  that  Germany 
has  led  the  way  in  this  matter.  This  is  the  very  reverse  of 
the  truth.  Foreign  countries  are,  in  this  matter,  following 
long  in  the  wake  of  England.  There  are  no  cities  in  the 
world  so  healthy  as  British  cities.  Practical  measures  of 
cleansing,  faithful  activity  in  destroying  dirt  and  prevent- 
ing over-crowding,  enforced  by  legislation,  have  reduced 
the  death-rate  of  our  great  centres  of  population  in  fifty 
years  by  more  than  one  third— that  is  to  say,  from  some- 
thing like  29  per  1000  to  something  like  18  per  1000. 
No  other  country  can  show  such  a  result. 

Gaol-fever,  spotted  or  putrid  fever,  or  typhus  fever  has 
practically  ceased  to  be  a  regularly  occurring  disease  in 
the  West  of  Europe.  The  last  cases  in  London  were,  I 
well  remember,  in  a  poor  district  near  the  Marylebone 
Road  about  thirty  years  ago.  A  very  few  cases  have 
appeared  since  in  the  overcrowded  and  poorest  districts  of 
our  largest  cities.  Beleaguering  armies  and  beleaguered 
cities  suffered  from  it  as  late  as  in  the  Crimean  "War,  but 
we  may  now  fairly  say  that  it  has  disappeared  from  our 
midst.  It,  however,  still  abounds  in  Russia  and  her 


TYPHUS    AND    MONKEYS  335 

eastern  provinces,  and  in  Algeria,  Tunis,  and  Morocco. 
It  is  a  disease  of  cold  and  temperate  climates  rather  than 
of  the  tropics. 

In  the  last  century  typhus  was  distinguished  definitely 
and  clearly  from  "  typhoid  "  or  "enteric"  fever,  and  from 
"relapsing"  or  "famine"  fever,  with  which  it  had  pre- 
viously been  confounded.  The  bacterial  germs  causing 
enteric  and  relapsing  fevers  are  now  known,  and  have  been 
isolated  and  cultivated,  and  the  mode  in  which  they  are 
conveyed  into  the  body  of  a  previously  healthy  patient  is 
ascertained.  But  until  the  past  year  we  knew  neither 
the  parasitic  germ  which  causes  typhus  fever  nor  the 
mode  by  which  it  passes  from  one  individual  to  another. 
A  vague  idea  that  it  was  spread  through  the  air  prevailed. 
Typhus  is  remarkable  for  the  frequency  with  which  the 
nurses  and  doctors  attending  a  case  become  infected. 
About  20  per  cent,  of  those  attacked  by  it  die,  but  in 
persons  above  forty-five  years  of  age  the  mortality  is  much 
greater — about  half  succumb. 

Dr.  Nicole  and  his  colleagues  of  the  Institut  Pasteur  in 
Tunis  have  recently  had  the  opportunity  of  studying 
typhus  there.  They  found  that  the  ordinary  local  monkey 
could  not  be  made  to  take  the  disease.  But  a  drop  of 
blood  of  a  typhus  patient  injected  into  a  chimpanzee 
(which  is  far  nearer  akin  to  man)  produced  the  disease 
after  an  incubation  period  of  three  weeks.  This  fact  was 
definitely  established.  From  what  is  now  known  as  to 
relapsing  fever,  malaria,  yellow  fever,  plague,  and  sleeping- 
sickness,  it  seemed  probable  that  some  migratory  insect 
must  be  the  carrier  of  the  typhus  infection  from  man  to 
man.  The  typhus  patients  brought  into  the  hospital  at 
Tunis  were  carefully  washed  before  admission,  and  no 
infection  of  other  patients  or  nurses  took  place  in  the 
wards,  although  the  cases  were  not  isolated,  and  bugs 
were  abundant.  The  only  cases  of  infection  which 


336    THE  SECRET  OF   A  TERRIBLE   DISEASE 

occurred  were  in  persons  who  had  the  duty  of  collecting 
and  disinfecting  the  clothing  of  the  patients  when  ad- 
mitted. This  seems  to  exclude  the  bug  as  a  carrier.  The 
flea  is  excluded  by  the  fact  that  in  the  phosphate  mines  of 
Tunis  the  flea  is  abundant,  and  bites  both  natives  and 
Europeans.  Yet  when  typhus  fever  broke  out  among  the 
miners — although  all  were  equally  bitten  by  the  fleas  no 
European  was  infected.  The  indication,  therefore,  was 
that  if  any  insect  is  the  carrier,  it  is  neither  the  flea  nor  the 
bug,  but  probably  the  clothes-louse.  Although  the  smaller 
monkeys  cannot  be  directly  infected  with  typhus  fever 
from  man,  it  was  found  that  (as  with  some  other  infections) 
the  bonnet  monkey  was  susceptible  to  the  infection  after 
it  had  passed  through  the  chimpanzee.  Experiments 
were,  therefore,  made  with  clothes  lice  taken  from  a 
healthy  man,  and  kept  for  eight  hours  without  food.  They 
were  placed  on  a  bonnet  monkey  which  was  in  full  typhus 
eruption.  A  day  afterwards  they  were  removed  to  healthy 
bonnet  monkeys  with  the  result  that  the  healthy  bonnet 
monkeys  developed  typhus  fever.  There  is  thus  no  doubt 
whatever  that  typhus  fever  can  be  carried  in  this  way  from 
bonnet  monkey  to  bonnet  monkey.  The  whole  history 
of  typhus  fever  fits  in  with  the  carriage  of  the  infection  in 
the  same  way  from  man  to  man,  and  not  with  the  notion 
of  an  aerial  dispersion  of  the  infection. 

The  fact  that  typhus  only  exists  in  very  dirty  and 
crowded  populations,  and  that  it  has  disappeared  where 
even  a  moderate  amount  of  cleanliness  as  to  person  and 
clothing  has  become  general,  coincides  with  the  possibility 
of  the  body  louse  as  carrier.  This  little  parasite  is  known 
to  be  a  wanderer,  and  is  gifted  with  a  very  acute  sense  of 
smell.  An  individual  placed  in  the  centre  of  a  glass  table 
invariably  walked,  guided  by  the  scent,  towards  the 
observer,  at  whatever  position  he  placed  himself.  Sul- 
phurous acid  is  a  violent  repellant  of  these  creatures.  Not 


TYPHUS    FEVER    IN    RUSSIA 


337 


only  will  it  kill  them  if  .they  are  exposed  to  its  fumes,  but 
traces  of  it  drive  them  away.  Hence  doctors  and  nurses 
who  have  to  handle  typhus  patients  or  their  clothes  have 
only  to  wear  a  small  muslin  bag  of  sulphur  under  their 
garments,  or  to  rub  themselves  with  a  little  sulphur  oint- 
ment in  order  to  be  perfectly  guarded  against  infection  ; 
the  louse  will  not  approach  them,  nor  remain  upon  them 
should  it  accidentally  effect  a  lodgment. 

It  is  not  always  obvious  at  once  in  what  way  a  know- 
ledge of  the  mode  of  carriage  of  a  deadly  disease  can  be  of 
service  to  humanity.  But  in  this  case  it  is  strikingly  and 
triumphantly  clear.  In  the  vast  poverty-stricken  popu- 
lation of  Russia  typhus  is  still  common.  Public  medical 
officials  attend  these  cases,  and  the  Russian  Govern- 
ment keeps  a  record  of  the  annual  deaths  of  its  medical 
staff,  and  of  the  causes  of  their  deaths.  In  the  first 
six  months  of  last  year  530  Russian  medical  officers  died, 
and  twenty-four  of  these  deaths  were  caused  by  typhus 
fever  acquired  by  these  devoted  public  servants  in  attend- 
ance upon  cases  of  that  fever.  Henceforth  they  will 
make  use  of  sulphur  or  sulphurous  ointment  to  keep  the 
little  infection-carriers  at  a  distance,  and  not  one  medical 
man  or  nurse  will  catch  the  disease,  still  less  be  killed 
by  it. 

A  remarkable  fact  in  this  history  is  that  the  actual 
parasitic  germ  which  causes  typhus,  whether  a  bacterium 
(Schizophyte)  or  a  protozoon,  has  not  been  detected, 
although  the  louse  has  been  shown  to  be  its  "  carrier." 
The  same  is  true  of  yellow-fever  :  we  have  not  seen  with 
the  microscope  the  microbe  which  produces  it.  But  we 
know  with  certainty  that  the  gnat,  Stegomya  fasciata,  and 
no  other,  is  the  carrier  of  the  unseen  germ,  and  that  we 
can  obliterate  that  fever  by  obliterating  the  gnat.  So, 
too,  although  we  know  how  the  infection  of  rabies  acts, 
and  how  it  is  carried,  yet  no  one  has  yet  isolated  and 

22 


338    THE  SECRET  OF  A  TERRIBLE  DISEASE 

recognised  the  terrible  infective  particle  itself.  There  is  a 
very  high  probability  that  in  these  cases,  and  also  in  cancer 
(where  as  yet  no  specific  infective  germ  or  parasitic 
microbe  has  been  detected),  such  an  infective  microbe  is 
nevertheless  present,  and  has  hitherto  escaped  observation 
with  the  microscope  on  account  of  its  excessive  minute- 
ness and  transparency. 


CHAPTER    XXV 
CARRIERS    OF    DISEASE 

IT  has  now  been  discovered  that  a  great  number  of 
human  diseases  are  caused  by  microscopic  parasites, 
which  are  spoken  of  in  a  general  way  by  the  name  invented 
by  the  great  Pasteur,  viz.  "  microbes."  Wool-sorter's 
disease,  Eastern  relapsing  fever,  lockjaw,  glanders,  leprosy 
phthisis,  diphtheria,  cholera,  Oriental  plague,  typhoid 
fever,  Malta  fever,  septic  poisoning  and  gangrene  have  been 
shown  to  be  caused  each  by  a  peculiar  species  of  the 
excessively  minute  parasitic  vegetables  known  as  bacteria 
(or  Schizophyta).  Others,  for  example,  malaria  and 
sleeping-sickness,  have  been  shown  to  be  caused  by  almost 
equally  minute  microbes,  which  are  of  an  animal  nature,  and 
similar  to  the  free-living  animalcules  which  we  call  Protozoa, 
or  "  simplest  animals,"  whilst  a  third  lot  of  diseases — 
rabies,  smallpox,  yellow  fever,  scarlet  fever,  and  typhus 

— are  held  to  be  caused  by  similar  minute  parasites, 
although  these  have  not  yet  actually  been  seen  and 
cultivated,  but  are  surely  inferred  (from  the  nature  and 
spread  of  these  diseases)  to  exist. 

The  difference  of  the  microbes  called  bacteria  from  the 
disease-causing  microbes  classed  as  "  Protozoa  "  consists 
in  their  simpler  structure  and  mode  of  growth.  They  are 
essentially  filaments  which  continually  multiply  by  fission 

— a  process  often  carried  so  far  that  the  little  organisms 
present  themselves  as  short  rods,  or  as  curved  (comma- 


34° 


CARRIERS   OF   DISEASE 


shaped),  or  even  spherical  particles  (micrococci) — and 
only  in  favourable  conditions  arrest  their  self-division  so 
as  to  grow  for  a  time  into  the  thread-like  or  filament 
shape.  Often  these  filaments  are  not  straight,  but  spirally 
twisted,  and  are  called  "  spirilla."  Some  of  them  are 
blood  parasites,  but  the  larger  number  attack  the  tissues, 
and  others  occur  in  the  digestive  canal. 

The  parasitic  disease-producing  protozoa,  on  the  other 
hand,  are  of  softer  substance,  often  have  the  habit  of 
twisting  themselves  in  a  corkscrew-like  manner,  and 
usually  are  provided  with  an  undulating  membrane  or  frill, 
as  well  as  with  one  or  with  two  whip-like  swimming 
processes  (the  latter  are  present  also  and  are  often  nume- 
rous in  the  actively  swimming  phases  of  bacteria),  and  have 
a  more  complicated  life-history.  They  divide,  as-  a  rule, 
longitudinally  and  not  transversely,  and  pass  from  one 
"  host "  to  a  second,  where  they  assume  distinct  forms — 
males  and  females,  which  conjugate  and  break  up  (each 
conjugated  or  fused  pair)  into  a  mass  of  very  numerous, 
excessively  minute,  young.  The  disease-producing  pro- 
tozoa of  this  kind  are  frequently  parasitic  in  the  blood  of 
man  and  animals,  and  were  only  recently  recognised, 
after  the  disease-producing  bacteria  of  many  kinds  had 
been  thoroughly  studied.  These  animal  microbes  are 
often  spoken  of  as  "  blood-flagellates  "  or  haemo-flagellata, 
and  the  larger  kinds  are  called  "  Trypanosomes,"  or 
"  screw-form  parasites,"  whilst  a  series  of  more  minute 
ones  are  called  "  Piroplasma,"  or  "  pear-shaped  parasites." 
Many,  but  not  all,  are  found  during  a  certain  period  of 
their  life,  actually  inside  the  corpuscles  of  the  blood. 
The  fact  that  many  of  these  blood-flagellates  (if  not  all) 
have,  besides  their  life  in  the  blood  of  one  species  of 
animal,  a  second  period  of  existence  in  the  juices  or  the 
gut  of  another  animal,  has  made  it  very  difficult  to  trace 
their  migrations,  since  in  the  second  phase  of  their  history 


THE    ENTRANCE    OF    PARASITES          341 

their  appearance  differs  considerably  from  that  which 
they  presented  in  the  first.  And  often  they  exist  in  one 
kind  of  animal  without  doing  any  harm,  and  are  only 
poisonous  when  introduced  by  insects  into  the  blood  of 
other  kinds  of  animals  ! 

There  is,  further,  another  set  of  disease-causing  proto- 
zoan parasites  which  are  similar  to  the  amceba  or  proteus- 
animalcule,  and  a  third,  which  belong  to  the  group 
of  "  ciliated  infusoria."  They  are  not  so  minute  as  the 
preceding  set,  and  are  not  usually  referred  to  as  "microbes." 
They  inhabit  the  intestine  of  man  and  animals,  and  cause, 
in  some  instances,  dysentery.  These  two  later  kinds  of 
protozoan  parasites  I  will  at  the  moment  leave  out  of 
consideration,  as  well  as  the  "  coccidia,"  which  multiply  in 
the  tissue-cells  of  animals — for  instance,  rabbits  and  mice 
— and  cause  an  unhealthy  growth  and  excessive  multiplica- 
tion of  the  cells  of  the  tissues,  which  in  some  respects 
resembles  that  seen  in  the  terrible  disease  known  as  cancer. 
Indeed,  it  is  held  by  many  investigators  that  some  such 
parasite — though  not  yet  discovered — is  the  cause  of 
cancer. 

A  very  important  question  is  :  How  do  these  poison- 
producing  parasites  (for  it  is  by  the  poison  which  they 
manufacture  that  they  upset  the  healthy  life  of  their 
hosts)  make  their  way  into  the  human  body?  The 
surface  of  the  body  of  animals,  like  man,  is  pro- 
tected by  a  delicate,  horny  covering — the  epidermis — 
through  which  none  of  these  parasites  can  make  their 
way.  They  can  only  get  through  it,  and  so  into  the  soft, 
juicy  tissues  and  the  fine  blood-vessels  which  it  covers, 
when  it  is  cracked,  broken,  pierced,  or  cut.  But  they 
also  have  a  way  open  to  them  through  the  softer  moist 
surfaces  of  the  inner  passages,  such  as  the  digestive  canal 
and  the  lungs.  They  enter  (some  kinds  only  and  not  a 
few)  with  food  and  drink  into  the  digestive  canal,  and 


342  CARRIERS   OF   DISEASE 

with  the  air  into  the  air-passages  and  the  lungs  ;  and 
once  in  these  chambers,  which  have  only  soft  lining- 
surfaces,  they  are  able  to  penetrate  into  the  substance  of 
the  body.  Many  of  those  which  enter  the  digestive  canal 
do  not  require  to  penetrate  further,  but  multiply  exces- 
sively in  the  contents  of  the  bowel,  and  there  produce 
poisons,  which  are  absorbed  and  produce  deadly  results 
— such  are  the  bacteria  which  produce  Indian  cholera  and 
ordinary  diarrhoea — whilst  the  kind  causing  typhoid  fever 
not  only  multiplies  in  the  gut,  but  penetrates  its  surface. 

The  protective  surface  of  man's  body  is  broken,  and 
the  way  laid  open  for  the  entrance  of  microbes  in  various 
ways.  A  slight  scratch,  abrasion,  or  even  "  chapping  "  is 
enough.  Thus,  a  mere  breaking  of  the  skin  of  the 
knuckles  by  a  fall  on  to  dirty  ground  lets  in  the  deadly 
bacterium  of  lockjaw  (tetanus),  which  is  lurking  in  the 
soil.  Leprosy  is  communicated  from  a  leper  in  the  same 
way.  The  almost  ubiquitous  bacteria  of  blood-poisoning 
(septicaemia)  may  enter  by  the  smallest  fissure  of  the 
skin,  still  more  readily  by  large  cuts  or  wounds.  The 
bites  and  stabs  of  small  and  large  animals — wolves,  dogs, 
flies,  gnats,  fleas  and  bugs,  also  open  the  way,  and  often 
the  deadly  microbe  has  associated  itself  with  the  biting 
animal  and  is  carried  by  it,  ready  to  effect  an  entrance. 
Thus  rabies  (hydrophobia)  is  introduced  by  the  bites  of 
wolves  and  dogs,  and  a  whole  series  of  diseases  such  as 
plague,  malaria,  sleeping-sickness,  gaol-fever  (typhus), 
yellow  fever,  relapsing  fever,  and  others,  are  introduced 
into  the  human  body  by  blood-sucking  insects.  Hence 
the  immense  importance  of  treating  every  slightest  wound 
and  scratch  with  chemicals  (called  "  antiseptics  "),  which 
at  once  destroy  the  invading  microbe — and  of  keeping  a 
wounded  surface  covered  and  protected  from  their  ap- 
proach. In  ways  at  one  time  unsuspected,  such  openings 
may  be  made  by  which  poisonous  microbes  enter  the  body. 


MAN  AS  A  CARRIER  OF  DISEASE         343 

Thus  the  little  hard-skinned  parasitic  thread-worms  which 
are  often  brought  in  by  uncooked  food  into  man's  intestine, 
though  by  themselves  comparatively  harmless,  scratch  the 
soft  lining  of  the  bowel  and  enable  poison-making  microbes 
to  enter  the  deeper  tissues,  and  cause  dangerous  abscesses 
and  appendicitis. 

The  carriers  of  disease  germs  thus  become  a  very  im- 
portant subject  of  study.  There  are  carriers  which  make 
no  selection,  but  are,  so  to  speak,  "  casual "  in  their 
proceedings,  and  there  are  others  which  have  the  most 
special  and  elaborate  relations  to  some  one  kind  of  disease- 
causing  microbe  for  which  alone  they  are  responsible,  and 
to  the  life  of  which  they  are  necessary.  Let  us  look  first 
at  the  more  casual  group.  Man  himself  is  a  great  carrier 
and  distributor  of  his  own  diseases.  Unless  and  until  he 
has  learned  to  be  careful  and  guard  against  thoughtless 
proceedings,  he  is  always  spreading  the  microbes  of  his 
diseases  and  passing  them  on  to  his  fellow  men.  He  pol- 
lutes the  waters,  rivers,  lakes  and  pools  from  which  others 
drink.  He  manures  his  crops,  and  then  eats  some  of 
them  uncooked.  His  hands  are  polluted  by  disease- 
causing  microbes,  and  he  handles  (to  an  alarming  and 
unnecessary  extent)  the  food,  such  as  bread  and  fruit, 
which  is  swallowed  by  his  fellows,  without  cleansing  it  by 
heat.  It  has  lately  been  shown  that  apparently  healthy 
men  and  women  often  harbour  within  them  the  microbes 
of  typhoid  fever  or  of  cholera  (and  probably  other  diseases), 
without  themselves  suffering  in  health,  and  that  unsus- 
pected they  thus  become  distributing  centres  of  these 
diseases.  The  names  "  typhoid  carrier "  and  "  cholera 
carrier"  have  actually  been  introduced  to  describe  the  condi- 
tion of  such  persons.  Then,  again,  by  his  breath,  and  by 
coughing  and  spitting,  a  man  acts  as  a  carrier  to  others 
of  disease-microbes  already  lodged  in  him,  as  well  as  by 
actual  contact  in  the  case  of  those  infections  which  are 


344  CARRIERS   OF   DISEASE 

called  "  contagious."  The  numerous  animals  which  sur- 
round and  are  associated  with  man  act  very  largely  as 
casual  carriers  and  distributors  of  disease  microbes.  Thus 
dogs  and  even  the  cleanly  cat  are  frequently  carriers  of 
disease.  But  more  especially  those  creatures  which  visit 
man's  food  stores  and  food  ready  for  consumption  (such 
as  bread,  fruits,  cold  meat,  etc.)  are  active  carriers.  Rats 
and  mice  run  over  such  stores  and  pollute  them.  But 
the  most  widely  active  in  this  way  is  the  common 
house-fly. 

Whilst  white  men  have  developed  an  almost  automatic 
resistance  and  objection  to  the  visits  of  flies  to  their  lips, 
eyelids,  and  any  wound  or  scratch  of  the  skin — a  resistance 
which  is  not  shown  by  many  savage  races — they  yet  allow 
house-flies  to  swarm  in  their  dwellings,  to  run  about  and 
sample  their  food,  with  an  indifference  which  is,  when  the 
truth  is  known,  truly  horrible  in  its  fatuity  and  foolhardi- 
ness.  For  the  fact  is  that  the  feet  and  proboscis  of  the 
common  house-fly  are  covered  with  microbes  of  all  sorts, 
picked  up  by  his  explorations  upon  every  kind  of  filth. 
At  every  step  which  he  takes  he  plants  a  few  dozen 
microbes,  which  include  those  of  infantile  diarrhoea,  typhoid, 
and  other  prevalent  diseases.  This  is  easily  shown  by 
allowing  him  to  walk  over  a  smooth  plate  of  sterilised 
nutritive  gelatine  and  preserving  it  afterwards  free  from 
the  access  of  microbes  from  the  air.  In  twenty-four  hours 
every  footstep  of  the  fly  on  the  gelatine  is  marked  by  an 
abundant  and  varied  crop  of  microbes,  which  have  multi- 
plied from  the  individuals  let  drop  by  the  little  pedestrian. 
There  is  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  house-fly  is  a  main 
source  of  the  dissemination  of  the  microbe  of  infantile 
diarrhoea,  and  the  cause  annually  of  hundreds  of  thousands 
of  deaths  of  children  in  the  great  cities  of  Europe  and 
America.  Also  in  camps  and  infected  districts  he  is 
largely  responsible  for  the  introduction  of  the  microbe  of 


HOUSE    FLIES    AND    DISEASE  345 

typhoid  fever  into  the  human  food  to  which  he  has  free 
access  after  his  previous  visits  to  open  latrines.  The 
house-fly  is  himself  a  product  of  dirt  and  neglect.  The 
eggs  are  laid  in  old  manure  heaps  and  kitchen  middens, 
and  the  maggots,  which  eventually  are  transformed  into 
flies,  nourish  themselves  in  those  accumulations.  When 
this  refuse  is  rapidly  and  regularly  removed  by  the  care 
of  the  sanitary  officials  of  a  town,  the  flies  diminish  in 
number,  as  they  have  diminished  in  London  within  the 
last  thirty  years.  We  no  longer  are  overrun  by  flies  in 
London  in  the  summer  months.  The  man  selling  sheets 
of  sticky  paper  is  no  longer  heard  in  our  streets  calling 
"  Catch  'em  alive,  oh  !  "  But  in  country  places,  where  a 
neglected  stable-yard  is  near  the  dining-room  of  the  inn, 
house-flies  are  as  great  a  nuisance  and  danger  as  ever. 
There  is  no  difficulty,  if  the  simplest  rules  of  cleanliness 
are  observed,  in  abolishing  them  altogether  from  human 
association,  but  combined  and  simultaneous  action  against 
them  is  an  essential  condition  of  success. 


CHAPTER     XXVI 
IMMUNITY    AND    CURATIVE    INOCULATIONS 

DURING  the  last  twenty  years  the  whole  attitude  of 
the  study  and  investigation  of  disease-causing 
microbes  has  advanced  from  the  preliminary  step  of 
merely  identifying  certain  microbes  as  the  causes  of 
certain  diseases  to  a  further  step,  viz.  that  of  attempting 
to  defend  the  animal  and  the  human  body  against  their 
attacks  in  the  manner  already  so  finely  started  by 
Pasteur.  For  many  years  disease  after  disease  was 
examined  and  found  to  be  caused  by  special  bacteria  or 
other  microbes.  Even  non-infectious  diseases  or  diseases 
only  communicable  under  very  special  conditions  were 
found  to  be  due  to  microbes,  so  that  it  is  probable  that  all 
disease  that  is  not  due  to  congenital  malformation  or  to 
mechanical  injury,  or  to  poison  fabricated  in  the  weapons 
of  larger  animals  and  plants,  or  by  man  himself,  is  due  to 
microbes.  "  Life,"  says  Lord  Justice  Moulton,  "  is  one 
ceaseless  war  against  these  enemies,  and  the  periods  of 
our  too-transient  successes  are  known  as  health."  One  of 
the  last  diseases  traced  to  microbes  is  that  sad  condition 
known  as  "  infantile  paralysis,"  by  which  so  many  of  the 
brightest  and  best  members  of  the  community  have  been 
crippled,  from  childhood  onwards,  through  life. 

Of  late  we  have  been  making  rapid  strides  in  arriving 
at  a  knowledge  as  to  how  Nature  herself  protects  higher 
creatures  from  the  excesses  and  exuberance  of  destructive 


INOCULATION    OF    SMALLPOX  347 

microbes,  and  we  are  now  able  to  see  that  it  is  in  adopting 
her  methods  that  our  best  hope  of  increasing  that  protec- 
tion lies.  Nature  is  satisfied  if  the  efficacy  of  her  defence 
is  sufficient  to  save  enough  individuals  to  carry  on  the 
race.  Man  desires  in  the  case  of  his  own  fellows  to  out-do 
Nature,  and  to  save  all. 

A  century  and  a  half  ago,  before  the  true  character  of 
infective  "disease  was  understood,  it  was  observed  that  an 
individual  who  was  attacked  by  the  smallpox  and  recovered 
became  incapable  of  receiving  the  infection  again.  He  was 
"  protected  "  or  "immune."  The  practice  of  "  inoculation  " 
was  introduced  from  the  East  by  Lady  Montague.  The 
infectious  matter  was  introduced  from  a  smallpox  patient 
into  the  person  to  be  protected  by  rubbing  it  into  a  scarified 
part  of  the  skin.  A  much  less  severe  attack  of  smallpox 
was  thus  produced  than  that  which  usually  followed  the 
natural  infection,  which  (though  we  do  not  know  precisely 
its  mode  of  entrance)  is  more  widely  spread  through  the. 
blood.  At  the  same  time  the  condition  of  "  immunity  " 
after  the  attack  was  brought  about  with  equal  efficacy. 
When  Jenner  introduced  inoculation  with  "  cowpox  "  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  "  immunity  "  in  the  vaccinated 
person,  inoculation  with  smallpox  itself  was  a  very  usual 
practice.  It  was  open  to  the  objection  that  sometimes  an 
unexpectedly  violent  attack  of  the  disease  was  produced, 
resulting  in  death,  and  that  the  active  infection  was  kept 
alive  and  ever  present  in  the  community.  The  notion 
with  regard  to  the  mode  in  which  "  immunity  "  was  pro- 
duced by  either  the  Montacutian  or  Jennerian  inoculation 
was,  even  after  the  general  knowledge  of  microbes  as  the 
living  contagion  of  disease  had  been  arrived  at,  that  the 
mild  attack  due  to  inoculation  "  used  up  "  something  in 
the  blood — in  fact,  exhausted  the  soil,  so  that  the  infective 
matter  or  microbe  could  no  longer  flourish  in  the  blood. 
And  this  view  was  accepted  as  the  explanation  of  the 


348  IMMUNITY  AND  CURATIVE  INOCULATIONS 

"  immunity "  to  the  anthrax  disease  conferred  on  cattle 
and  sheep  by  Pasteur's  inoculations  of  weakened,  but  still 
actively  growing,  cultures  of  the  anthrax  bacillus. 
Another  theory  was  that  they  produced  something  in 
the  blood  by  their  own  life-processes  which  checked  their 
further  growth,  just  as  yeast  will  not  grow  in  wort  in 
which  it  has  produced  8  per  cent,  of  alcohol,  and  as  a  fire 
may  be  choked  by  its  own  smoke  or  ashes. 

We  now  know  that  both  these  explanations  of  "  im- 
munity "  are  incorrect.  Nature  provides  at  least  three 
varieties  of  defence  within  the  blood  of  higher  animals 
against  disease-producing  microbes  which  have  broken 
through  the  outer  line  of  fortification,  the  skin.  These 
three  methods  are  effective  in  different  cases  (one  in  this 
disease,  the  other  in  that),  and,  on  the  whole,  are  sufficient 
to  preserve  the  races  of  animals  (including  man)  from 
complete  destruction.  These  are  (i)  the  production  in 
vthe  blood  of  an  antidote  to  the  toxin  or  poison  elaborated 
by  the  invading  microbe — an  antitoxin,  which  chemically 
neutralises  the  toxin  ;  (2)  the  production  in  the  blood  of 
the  attacked  animal  of  a  "  germicidal "  poison  which 
repels  and  kills  the  attacking  microbes  themselves  (not 
merely  neutralising  their  poisonous  products)  ;  (3)  the  ex- 
termination of  the  intrusive,  disease-producing  microbes 
by  a  kind  of  police,  which  scour  the  blood  channels  and 
tissues  and  "  eat  up  " — actually  engulf  and  digest— the 
hostile  intruders.  These  latter  agents,  actual  particles  of 
the  living  animal  in  which  they  exist,  are  the  "  eater- 
cells,"  or  "  phagocytes  " — minute,  viscid,  actively  moving 
cells,  resembling  the  animacules  called  "  amoeba."  They 
are  only  the  one  two-thousandth  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
and  are  known  as  the  white  or  colourless  corpuscles 
of  the  blood.  They  are  far  less  numerous  than  the 
red  blood-corpuscles,  which  are  the  agents  for  carrying 
oxygen,  but  there  are  eight  thousand  million  of  them  in 


ANTITOXINS 


349 


a  large  spoonful  of  blood.  They  are  the  really  important 
agents  in  protecting  us  from  microbes,  since  they  not  only 
engulf  and  digest  and  so  destroy  those  intruders,  but  it  is 
probable  (not  certain)  that  they  also  are  the  manufacturers 
of  the  antitoxins  and  of  the  germicidal  poisons. 

If  these  three  defensive  processes  given  us  by  Nature 
are  in  working  order,  that  is  to  say,  if  we  are  "  healthy," 
they  should  secure  to  us  a  sufficient  "  immunity " — at 
any  rate,  "  recovery  " — from  any  attack  of  disease-pro- 
ducing microbes.  But  they  are  not  in  "  unselected,"  widely 
ranging  mankind  always  equal  (in  their  unaided  natural 
state)  to  their  task. 

The  attempts  to  produce  immunity  by  vaccination  with 
weakened  or  localised  disease  germs  is  really  an  attempt 
to  train  and  develop  to  a  high  point  the  activities  of  the 
phagocytes  or  eater-cells  of  the  blood. 

The  introduction  of  antitoxins  by  injection  of  them  into 
the  blood  (as  in  the  treatment  of  diphtheria,  lock-jaw  and 
snake-bite)  is  an  attempt  to  bring  to  the  rescue  of  a  patient 
who  would  sooner  or  later  produce  his  own  antitoxins  (but 
perhaps  too  late  or  in  insufficient  quantity)  the  similar  anti- 
toxin obtained  from  the  blood  of  another  animal  which  has 
been  artificially  made  to  produce  in  its  blood  an  excessive 
quantity  of  that  substance. 

Mithridates,  King  of  Pontus,  was,  according  to  ancient 
legend,  in  consequence  of  his  studies  and  experiments, 
soaked  with  all  kinds  of  poisons  to  which  he  had  become 
habituated  by  gradually  increasing  doses,  and  he  had  at 
last  reached  a  condition  in  which  no  poison  could  harm 
him,  so  that  when  he  was  captured  by  the  Romans  and 
wished  to  kill  himself  (which  was  the  correct  thing  in 
those  days  for  a  fallen  king  to  do),  he  wept  because  he 
was  unable  to  get  any  poison  which  could  act  upon  him. 
He  was  "  immune  "  to  all  poisons.  This  real  or  supposed 


350  IMMUNITY  AND  CURATIVE  INOCULATIONS 

immunity  resulting  from  the  introduction  into  the  living 
body  at  intervals  of  a  series  of  doses  of  a  poison  gradu- 
ally increasing  strength  has  been  called  "  Mithridatism," 
and  animals  and  men  so  treated  have  been  said  to  be 
"  mithradatised."  The  toleration  of  poisonous  drugs — 
such  as  tobacco  and  alcohol,  and  even  of  mineral  poisons, 
such  as  arsenic — was,  until  lately,  regarded  as  merely  a 
special  exhibition  of  that  habituation  or  "  adaptation  by 
use"  which  living  things  often  show  in  regard  to  some  of  the 
conditions  of  their  life.  Unusual  cold,  unusual  heat,  un- 
usual moisture,  salinity  or  the  reverse,  unusual  deprivation  of 
food,  unusual  muscular  effort  may  be  tolerated  by  animals 
without  injury  provided  that  they  have  been  "gradually 
accustomed  "  to  the  unusual  thing,  or,  in  other  words,  that 
the  unusual  has  been  gradually  made  the  usual  ;  so  that 
there  is  a  saying  that  eels  after  a  time  even  get  used  to 
being  skinned.  There  was  no  attempt  to  explain  the 
details  of  this  process  of  habituation  ;  it  was  assumed  to 
be  a  part  of  the  general  "  educability  "  of  living  matter. 

The  study  of  the  education  of  living  matter,  in  regard 
to  various  conditions  which  can  act  upon  it,  has  yet  to  be 
further  carried  out,  but  the  way  in  which  the  poisons  made 
by  disease  germs  and  the  like,  and  the  disease  germs 
themselves,  are  dealt  with  in  the  blood  and  tissues  has,  on 
account  of  its  urgent  importance,  from  a  medical  point  of 
view,  been  already  profoundly  studied  by  experimental 
and  microscopic  methods  of  late  years.  The  old  notion 
as  to  "  mithridatism  "  was  that  an  animal  or  a  man  would 
have  to  be  separately  prepared  and  "  immunised "  by 
habituation  for  every  distinct  kind  of  poison.  We  now 
know  that  this  is  not  the  usual  way  in  which  Nature 
confers  immunity  to  poisons.  Most  astonishing,  and  at 
first  sight  magical  or  mysterious,  powers  exist  in  the 
living  protoplasmic  cells  in  and  around  the  blood  of 
man  and  higher  animals,  which  enable  their  possessors  to 


THE  WONDERFUL  PROPERTIES  OF  BLOOD   351 

resist  and  combat  the  poison-producing  microbes,  and  also 
the  poison  itself,  of  all  kinds,  by  which  the  race  is  liable 
to  be  attacked. 

Few  of  us  realise  what  a  wonderful  and  exceptional 
fluid  the  blood  of  a  higher  animal  is.  The  Australian 
natives  attach  so  little  importance  to  it  that  they  actually 
cut  themselves  and  use  their  blood  as  a  sort  of  paste  for 
sticking  .decorative  feathers  on  to  a  pole!  The  Papuans 
are  more  advanced,  since  they  regard  the  flow  of  blood 
from  a  cut  or  graze  as  an  evil  portent.  And  some 
respect  to  the  greatness  and  wonder  of  blood  is  shown  by 
those  persons  among  civilised  peoples  (more  frequently 
men  than  women)  who  faint  when  they  see  blood,  or  even 
at  the  mention  of  its  name  !  This  stream  of  red  fluid 
within  us  (of  which  an  average  man  has  about  fifteen 
pints  in  his  vessels)  courses  at  a  tremendous  rate  from 
the  heart  through  all  the  endless  branches  and  networks  of 
arteries,  capillaries  and  veins,  and  back  to  the  heart.  It 
feeds,  cleanses,  warms  and  takes  "vital  air"  (the  old  name 
for  oxygen  gas)  dissolved  in  it  to  every  particle  of  our 
bodies,  fresh  and  fresh  at  every  pulse-beat  as  it  rushes  on. 
It  not  only  absorbs  crude  digested  food  through  the  walls 
of  the  gut,  but  conveys  it  to  where  it  is  worked  up  and 
distributes  the  worked-up  product.  It  removes  the  quickly 
used-up  substances  from  every  part,  and  the  choke-damp 
or  carbonic  acid  which  would  stop  the  whole  machine, 
and  kill  us,  were  it  not  got  rid  of  through  the  lungs  as 
the  blood  hurries  through  the  walls  of  these  air-sacs,  whilst 
other  used-up  materials  are  carried  by  it  to  the  kidneys 
and  passed  out  of  the  body  through  them.  Every 
part  of  the  body  is  brought  into  common  life  with  every 
other  part  by  this  impetuous  blood-stream — which  is  here, 
there,  and  everywhere,  right  round,  and  back  again,  in 
twenty-five  seconds  !  It  is  obviously  a  very  serious  thing 
if  a  poison-producing  microbe  gets  into  this  blood-stream 


352  IMMUNITY  AND  CURATIVE  INOCULATIONS 

and  multiplies  within  it,  or  if  poison-producing  microbes 
lodge  somewhere  beneath  the  skin  in  a  wound,  and  keep 
on  discharging  virulent  poison  into  the  blood  !  The 
mischief  is  spread  all  over  the  body  at  once. 

It  is  not  surprising,  then,  that  the  long  course  of 
natural  selection  and  survival  of  the  fittest  has  resulted 
in  the  fixing  in  the  blood  and  the  living  cells  immediately 
connected  with  it  of  extraordinary  protective  powers.  The 
floating  scavenger  cells  (eater-cells  or  phagocytes,  first 
recognised  as  such  and  so  named  by  MetchnikofT)  are 
already  found  in  the  blood  of  quite  simple  animals — in 
worms,  shell-fish  and  insects.  I  have  watched  them  with 
the  microscope  at  work  in  transparent  minute  living 
water-fleas  eating  up  and  digesting  microbes  which  had 
got  into  the  water-flea's  blood.  In  higher  animals  what  we 
call  "  inflammation  "  is  a  condition — the  result  of  a  new 
and  advantageous  mechanism — which  consists  in  a  local 
retarding  of  the  blood-current,  effected  by  the  action  of  the 
nerves  on  the  muscular  walls  of  the  blood-vessels,  and  the 
consequent  escape  of  the  eater-cells  into  the  injured  or 
infected  tissue,  there  to  eat  up  and  destroy  the  injurious 
microbes  or  other  particles.  Special  and  remarkable  pro- 
perties— chemical  activities  of  an  extraordinary  character 
— have  been  gradually  developed  in  the  floating  phago- 
cytes, and  in  similar  non-floating  fixed  cells  over  which 
the  blood  flows. 

These  special  chemical  activities  are  of  several  distinct 
kinds.  The  first  is  the  power  to  convert  the  poison  of  a 
microbe  into  a  destroyer  of  that  poison — toxin  into  anti- 
toxin. The  atoms  of  these  poisons  are  elaborately 
composed  combinations  of  the  organic  elements.  By  a 
"  shake  "  or  a  "  twist "  (so  to  speak)  administered  by  the 
living  cells  of  the  blood  the  combination  is  altered,  and 
the  toxin  becomes  an  antitoxin,  destroying  by  chemically 
combining  with  it  the  very  toxin  from  which  it  was 


GERM-KILLING  POISONS  IN  THE  BLOOD    353 

formed.  This  is  a  far  more  efficacious  method  than  the 
supposed  mithridatic  "  habituation  "  or  "  toleration  "  of  a 
poison,  with  small  doses  of  which  you  have  to  be  gradually 
prepared.  The  healthy  blood  converts  any  one  of  a  large 
series  of  microbe  poisons  into  antitoxins.  It  is  true  that 
apparent  "  opposites "  are  often  closely  allied  in  Nature. 
Evil  smells  and  tastes  are  closely  allied  to  sweet  perfumes 
and  flavours,  and  what  is  healthy  and  agreeable  to  some 
men  acts  as  virulent  poison  to  others  (e.g.  shell-fish,  egg, 
quinine,  opium).  The  smallest  change  in  the  substance 
administered  or  the  smallest  difference  in  the  living  sub- 
stance of  an  individual  (what  is  called  "  idiosyncrasy  ") 
makes  all  the  difference  between  "  poison  "  and  "  meat." 

If  the  phagocytes  and  similar  cells  in  the  blood  of  a  man 
or  animal  exposed  to  the  poison  produced  by  localised 
microbes  (such  as  those  of  tetanus,  diphtheria  and  septic 
growths)  cannot  produce  enough  antitoxin  so  as  to  quickly 
destroy  the  poison,  we  can,  and  do,  nowadays,  save  his  life, 
by  injecting  into  his  blood  the  required  antitoxin,  obtained 
from  another  animal  which  we  have  caused  (by  injection 
of  the  toxin)  to  produce  the  antitoxin  in  excess.  That 
is  one  sort  of  "  immunity  "  or  "  resistance  "  which  we  can 
confer,  and  is  largely  in  use  at  the  present  day — the  "  anti- 
toxin "  treatment. 

The  second  poison-repelling  chemical  activity  of  the 
blood,  produced  by  the  living  cells  in  and  about  it, 
consists  in  the  blood  becoming  directly  poisonous  to 
injurious  microbes.  It  becomes  "  bactericidal,"  produces 
a  bactericidal  poison  (called  an  alexin)  which  is  usually 
present  in  normal  blood,  but  is  greatly  increased  when 
large  numbers  of  certain  poisonous  microbes  (e.g.  those 
of  typhoid  fever)  get  into  the  blood.  Again,  by  other 
chemical  substances  produced  in  it,  the  blood  may, 
without  actually  killing  the  invading  bacteria,  only  para- 
lyse them,  and  cause  them  to  "  agglutinate  "  (that  is,  to 

23 


354  IMMUNITY  AND  CURATIVE  INOCULATIONS 

adhere  to  one  another  as  an  inactive  "  clot "  or  "  lump  "). 
As  the  "  agglutinating "  poison  is  peculiar  (or  nearly 
so)  for  each  kind  of  microbe,  we  can  tell  whether  a 
patient  has  typhoid  by  drawing  a  drop  of  his  blood  into  a 
tube,  and  adding  some  fresh  living  typhoid  bacilli  to  it. 
If  the  patient  has  typhoid  he  will  have  begun  to  form  the 
"  typhoid-agglutinating  "  or  "  typhoid-paralysing  "  poison 
in  his  blood,  and  the  experiment  will  result  in  the  "  aggluti- 
nation "  (sticking  together  in  a  lump)  of  the  typhoid 
bacilli.  And  so  we  prove,  in  a  doubtful  case,  that  the 
patient  has  typhoid. 

The  third  chemical  activity  of  the  blood  in  dealing  with 
poisonous  microbes  is  also  one  which  is  conferred  upon  it 
by  its  living  cells  when  excited  by  the  presence  of  those 
microbes.  It  is  the  production  of  a  "  relish  "  (for  so  it 
must  be  called)  which  attaches  itself  to  the  microbes  and 
renders  them  attractive  to  the  eater-cells  (the  phagocytes), 
so  that  those  swarming  amceba-like  floating  particles  at 
once  proceed  to  engulf  the  microbes  with  avidity.  In  the 
absence  of  the  relish  (the  Greek  word  for  it  used  by  Sir 
Almroth  Wright,  its  discoverer,  is  "  opsonin  "),  the  eater- 
cells  are  sluggish — too  sluggish — in  their  work.  They 
resemble  a  child  who  will  not  eat  dry  toast,  or,  at  best, 
only  slowly,  but  will  devour  rapidly  many  pieces  when  the 
toast  is  buttered.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  to  us 
that  our  white  corpuscles,  or  eater-cells,  should  not  be 
sluggish  but  greedy. 

There  are  some  microbes  which  will  produce  deadly 
poison  if  grown  in  the  clear  fluid  (serum)  of  the  blood  of  an 
animal  (as,  for  instance,  the  cholera-microbe  when  grown  in 
the  serum  of  the  frog's  blood),  yet  when  inoculated  living 
into  the  blood  of  that  animal  never  cause  the  slightest 
illness  ?  Why  ?  Because  they  are  at  once  eaten  by  the 
vigilant  phagocytes  of  the  blood  before  they  can  produce 
any  appreciable  amount  of  poison.  That  is  easily  demon- 


OPSONINS    OR    SAUCE    FOR    GERMS       355 

strated  by  experiment.  Our  main  means  of  defence  against 
microbial  disease,  says  Metchnikoff — though  cleanliness 
and  precaution  against  access  of  microbes  are  all  very  well 
in  their  way — is  the  activity  of  our  phagocytes.  Now  it 
appears  that  just  as  in  the  other  cases  I  have  been  con- 
sidering, so  in  the  production  of  "  relish,"  the  power  to 
produce  it  resides  in  the  blood  (and  perhaps  the  cells  of 
its  vessels),  but  is  not  set  at  work  until  the  enemy  is  in 
the  blood.  Suppose  there  is  an  infection,  an  invasion  of 
the  blood  and  tissues  by  one  or  other  disease-causing 
microbe.  Gradually  if  the  body  is  healthy  the  "  relish  "  is 
produced  and  becomes  attached  to  the  invading  microbes. 
The  phagocytes  swallow  them  greedily  and  make  an  end 
of  the  invasion. 

It  is  proved  that  this  aroused  avidity  of  the  phago- 
cytes is  due  to  no  change  in  the  phagocytes  themselves  ; 
since  if  they  are  transferred  to  the  serum  of  a  normal 
man  they  show  no  such  predilection  for  the  special 
invading  microbe.  The  "  opsonin,"  or  "  relish,"  is  some- 
thing exuded  into  or  produced  in  the  blood  fluid  when 
the  attacking  microbe  arrives.  It  attaches  itself  to 
them  :  that  is  the  essential  fact.  In  many  of  us  the 
phagocytes  are  not  at  a  given  moment  so  "  avid  "  of  this 
or  that  disease-microbe  as  they  should  be  in  order  to  pro- 
tect us  from  its  multiplication  and  poison  production.  But 
it  is  found  that  by  injecting  boiled  and  cooled  (therefore 
dead)  microbes  of  a  particular  kind  into  the  blood  of  a 
man,  you  can  start  the  production  of  the  "  relish  "  appro- 
priate to  that  kind.  The  dead  microbes  answer  this 
purpose  ;  they  excite  the  production  of  the  opsonin  appro- 
priate to  them  and  yet  are  not  themselves  dangerous,  since 
they  are  dead.  When  subsequently  (or  possibly  concur- 
rently in  small  quantity)  living  microbes  of  the  same  disease 
enter  the  blood,  the  opsonin  is  ready  for  them.  They  are, 
to  put  it  picturesquely,  like  oysters  at  the  oyster-bar, 


356  IMMUNITY  AND  CURATIVE  INOCULATIONS 

peppered  and  vinegared  "  in  no  time,"  and  then  swallowed 
by  the  phagocytes  by  the  dozen.  This  seems  almost  too 
comic  a  view  of  the  deadly  struggle  of  man  and  higher 
animals  for  health  and  freedom  from  the  swarming  pests 
which  everywhere  invade  him.  Yet  it  is  correct,  and  in- 
volves a  simple  and  fundamental  truth.  Our  properties 
and  appetites  are  but  the  sum  of  those  of  the  proto- 
plasmic organisms — the  cells — of  which  we  are  built  up. 
Our  need  for  a  relish  with  oysters  is  the  same  thing  as  the 
need  of  the  phagocyte  for  a  relish  with  its  microbes,  not 
something  "  poetically  "  compared  to  it.  The  story  of 
"  the  oysters  and  the  carpenter  "  might  be  replaced  by 
that  of  "  the  microbes  and  the  phagocyte."  The  saying, 
"  Fine  words  butter  no  parsnips,"  finds  a  parallel  in  the 
remark  that  "  The  drinking  of  drugs  does  not  opsonise 
microbes." 

Half-way  between  us  and  the  amceba-like  unicellular 
organisms  we  find  the  earth-worm  preparing  his  piece  of 
lettuce  (as  Darwin  showed)  with  a  juice  exuded  from  his 
mouth,  a  "  relish  "  reminding  one  of  the-Kava  drink  of  the 
South  Sea  Islanders.  To  "  opsonize  "  or  render  attractive 
by  the  application  of  chemical  "  relish  "  is  a  proceeding 
which  we  find  in  operation  in  the  feeding  of  the  minute 
colourless  corpuscles  which  engorge  the  still  more  minute 
bacteria — and  also  in  the  preparation  of  their  food  by 
various  lower  animals,  and  finally  in  the  elaborate  flavour- 
ing and  cooking  of  his  food  by  civilised  man  ! 


CHAPTER    XXVII 

THE    STRANGE    STORY    OF   ANIMAL    LIFE    IN 
NEW    ZEALAND 

NEW  ZEALAND  consists  of  two  islands,  together 
more  than  a  1000  miles  long  and  of  about 
200,000  square  miles  area.  It  is  1000  miles  distant 
from  New  Caledonia,  the  nearest  island  of  any  consider- 
able size,  and  is  1500  miles  from  the  great  Continental 
island  of  Australia.  There  is  no  other  island  in  the 
world  so  large  and  at  the  same  time  so  remote  from  other 
considerable  tracts  of  land.  Australia  is  closely  connected 
by  island  groups  at  a  distance  of  only  100  miles  to 
Asia.  The  isolation  of  New  Zealand  is  unique.  The 
seas  around  it  are  of  vast  depth  and  of  proportionately 
great  age.  During  the  chalk  period — before  the  great 
deposits  and  changes  of  the  earth's  face  which  we  assign 
to  the  Tertiary  period — New  Zealand  consisted  of  a 
number  of  small  scattered  islands,  which  gradually,  as 
the  floor  of  the  sea  rose  in  that  part  of  the  world,  became 
a  continent  stretching  northward  and  joining  New  Guinea. 
In  that  very  ancient  time  the  land  was  covered  with 
ferns  and  large  trees.  Birds  (as  we  now  know  them)  had 
only  lately  come  into  existence  in  the  northern  hemisphere, 
and  when  New  Zealand  for  a  time  joined  that  area  the 
birds,  as  well  as  a  few  lizards  and  one  kind  of  frog, 
migrated  south  and  colonised  the  new  land.  It  is 
probable  that  the  very  peculiar  lizard-like  reptile  of  New 


358       ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    NEW    ZEALAND 

Zealand — the  "  tuatara  "  or  Sphenodon — entered  its  area 
at  a  still  earlier  stage  of  surface  change.  That  creature 
(only  20  in.  long)  is  the  only  living  representative  of  very 
remarkable  extinct  reptiles  which  lived  in  the  area  which 
now  is  England,  and,  in  fact,  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
during  the  Triassic  period,  further  behind  the  chalk  in 
date  than  the  chalk  is  behind  our  own  day.  For  ages, 
this  "  type,"  with  its  peculiar  beak-like  jaws,  has  survived 
only  in  New  Zealand.  Living  specimens  have  been 
brought  to  this  country,  and  are  to  be  seen  at  the  Zoo- 
logical Gardens  in  Regent's  Park.  Having  received,  as  it 
were,  a  small  cargo  of  birds  and  reptiles,  but  no  hairy, 
warm-blooded  quadruped,  no  mammal,  New  Zealand 
became  at  the  end  of  the  chalk-period  detached  from  the 
northern  continent,  and  isolated,  and  has  remained  so  ever 
since.  Migratory  birds  from  the  north  visited  it,  and  at  a 
late  date  two  kinds  of  bat  reached  it  and  established 
themselves. 

Thus  we  are  prepared  for  the  very  curious  state  of 
things  in  this  large  tract  of  land.  Looking  at  New 
Zealand  as  it  was  a  thousand  years  ago,  we  find  there 
were  no  mammals  living  on  it  excepting  a  couple  of  bats 
and  the  seals  (so-called  sea  lions,  sea  elephants,  and 
others)  which  frequent  its  coasts.  There  were  I  80  species 
of  birds,  and  many  of  these  quite  peculiar  to  the  island. 
Many  of  the  birds  showed  in  the  absence  of  any  predatory 
enemies — there  being  no  carnivorous  quadrupeds  to  hunt 
them  or  their  young — a  tendency  to  lose  the  power 
of  flight,  and  some  had  done  so  altogether.  The  gigantic, 
wingless  Moas — allied  to  the  ostrich  and  the  cassowary- 
had  grown  up  there,  and  were  the  masters  of  the  situation. 
There  were  many  species  of  these — one  of  great  height 
— one  fourth  taller  than  the  biggest  known  ostrich ; 
others  with  short  legs  of  monstrous  thickness  and  strength. 
Allied  to  these  are  the  four  species  of  Kiwi  or  apteryx, 


STRANGE   BIRDS 


359 


still  existing  there.  They  are  very  strange  wingless  birds, 
about  the  size  of  a  large  Dorking  fowl.  The  Kiwis  are 
still  in  existence,  but  the  Moas  and  some  of  the  other 
flightless  birds  have  died  out  since  the  arrival  of  the  Maori 
man,  who  killed  and  ate  them. 

A  bird  which  was  believed  sixty  years  ago  both  by  the 
natives  and  white  men  to  have  become  extinct,  the  Takahe, 
or  Notornis,  was  known  by  its  bones  and  from  the  traditions 
of  the  natives.  Much  to  the  delight  of  naturalists,  four  live 
specimens  of  it  were  obtained  at  intervals  in  the  last  century, 
the  last  as  late  as  1898.  The  beautiful  dark  plumage  and 
thick  and  short  beak,  which  is  bright  red,  as  are  the  legs,  are 
well  known  from  the  two  specimens  preserved  in  the  Natural 
History  Museum.  The  Notornis  is  a  heavy,  flightless 
"  rail."  Rails  are  remarkable  for  their  size  and  variety  in 
New  Zealand,  where  there  are  twenty  species,  some  of  them 
very  sluggish  in  flight,  or  like  Notornis,  flightless  (the 
wood  hens).  Amongst  the  flightless  birds  of  New  Zea- 
land is  a  duck,  as  helpless  as  the  heaviest  farmyard 
product,  and  yet  a  wild  bird,  and  then  there  are  the 
penguins,  which  swim  with  their  wings,  but  never  fly,  and 
belong  entirely  to  the  southern  hemisphere.  Many  species 
are  found  on  the  shores  of  New  Zealand.  Other  note- 
worthy birds  of  New  Zealand  are  the  twelve  kinds  of 
cormorants,  the  wry-bill  plover,  the  only  bird  in  the  world 
with  its  beak  turned  to  one  side,  the  practically  flightless 
Kakapo,  or  ground  parrot  (Stringops),  the  Huia,  a  bird 
like  a  crow  in  appearance,  whose  male  has  a  short  straight 
beak,  whilst  the  female  has  a  long  one,  greatly  curved  ; 
the  detested  Kea,  the  parrot  which  kills  the  sheep,  intro- 
duced by  the  colonists,  by  digging  out  with  its  beak  from 
their  backs  the  fat  round  the  kidneys;  also  very  peculiar 
owls  and  wrens,  and  the  fine  singing  bell-birds. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  indigenous  animals  of  New 
Zealand  is  seen  not  only  in  the  absence  of  mammals  and 


360       ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    NEW    ZEALAND 

the  abundance  of  remarkable  birds,  many  of  them  flight- 
less, but  also  in  the  fact  that  there  are  no  snakes  in  this 
vast  area — no  crocodiles,  no  tortoises — only  fourteen 
small  kinds  of  lizard  (seven  Geckoes  and  seven  Skinks), 
and  only  one  species  of  frog  (and  that  only  ever  seen  by 
a  very  few  persons) !  There  were  fish  in  the  rivers  when 
settlers  arrived  there,  but  none  very  remarkable.  Insects 
and  flies  of  every  kind,  scorpions,  spiders,  centipedes,  land- 
snails  and  earthworms  were  all  flourishing  in  the  forests  of 
New  Zealand  a  thousand  years  ago,  serving  in  large 
measure  as  the  food  of  birds,  fish  and  lizards.  The  great 
island  continent  of  Australia,  1500  miles  away,  is  peculiar 
enough  in  its  living  products,  quite  unlike  the  rest  of  the 
world  in  its  egg-laying  duck-mole  and  spiny  ant-eater,  and 
in  its  abundant  and  varied  population  of  pouched  mammals 
or  marsupials,  emphasised  by  the  absence  (except  for  two 
or  three  peculiar  little  mice  and  the  late-arrived  black- 
fellow  and  bush-dog)  of  the  regular  type  called  "placental" 
mammals  which  inhabit  the  rest  of  the  world.  The  rest  of 
the  world  except  New  Zealand  !  Strange  as  Australia  is, 
New  Zealand  is  yet  stranger.  Long  as  the  isolation  of 
Australia  has  endured,  and  archaic  and  primitive  in  essen- 
tial characters  as  is  its  living  freight  of  animals  and  plants 
navigated  (as  it  were)  in  safety  and  isolation  to  our  present 
days,  yet  New  Zealand  has  a  still  more  primitive,  a  more 
ancient  cargo.  When  we  divide  the  land  surfaces  of  the 
earth  according  to  their  history  as  indicated  by  the  nature 
of  their  living  fauna  and  flora  and  their  geological  struc- 
ture, and  the  fossilised  remains  of  their  past  inhabitants,  it 
becomes  necessary  to  separate  the  whole  land  surface  into 
two  primary  sections  :  (a)  New  Zealand,  and  (b)  the  rest 
of  the  world,  "  Theriogcea,"  or  the  land  of  beasts 
(mammals).  Then  we  divide  Theriogcea  into  ( I )  the  land 
of  Marsupials  (Australia),  and  (2)  the  land  of  Placentals 
(the  rest  of  the  world).  This  last  great  area  is  divisible 


DESTROYED   BY   EUROPEANS  361 

according  to  the  same  principles  into  the  great  northern 
belt  of  land,  the  Holarctic  region  and  the  (three  not  equally 
distinct)  great  southward-reaching  land  surfaces — the 
Neotropical  (South  America),  the  Ethiopian  (Africa,  south 
of  the  Sahara),  and  the  Oriental  (India  and  Malay). 

The  bird-ruled  quietude  of  New  Zealand  was  disturbed 
500  years  ago  by  the  arrival  of  the  Polynesian  Islanders, 
the  Maoris,  in  their  canoes.  They  brought  with  them 
three  kinds  of  vegetables  which  they  cultivated,  a  dog  and 
a  kind  of  rat.  The  dogs  soon  died  out,  but  the  rat  has 
remained,  and  is  considered  to  have  done  little  or  no 
harm.  It  was  not  one  of  the  destructive  proliferous  rats 
of  the  northern  hemisphere.  The  Maoris  hunted  the  big 
birds — the  Moas  and  others — for  their  flesh,  and  ate  their 
eggs,  and  it  is  probable  that  they  caused  or  accelerated 
the  extinction  of  the  Moa  and  two  or  three  other  birds. 
In  the  north  island  they  nearly  exterminated  the  white 
heron,  the  plumes  being  valued  by  them.  On  the  whole, 
very  little  damage  was  done  to  the  natural  products  of  the 
islands  by  the  Maoris.  "It  was  with  the  advent  of  the 
Europeans,"  says  Mr.  John  Drummond,  F.L.S.,  in  his 
interesting  and  well-illustrated  book  on  *  The  Animals  of 
New  Zealand,'  "  that  destruction  began  in  earnest.  It 
seemed  as  if  they  had  been  commanded  to  destroy  the 
ancient  inhabitants."  They  killed  right  and  left,  and,  in 
addition,  burnt  up  the  primaeval  forests  and  bushes  till  a 
great  part  of  the  flora  was  consumed.  It  was  never  a  very 
varied  or  strong  one,  consisting  only  of  some  1 400  species, 
which  are  now  in  large  proportion  vanishing,  whilst  600 
species  of  plants,  most  of  them  introduced  accidentally 
rather  than  intentionally  by  the  European  settlers,  have 
taken  their  place. 

Here  I  may  state  the  great  principle  which,  in  regard 
to  plants  as  well  as  animals,  determines  the  survival  of 
intruders  from  one  region  to  another.  It  appears  that 


362        ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    NEW    ZEALAND 

setting  aside  any  very  special  and  peculiar  adaptations  to 
quite  exceptional  conditions  in  a  given  area,  the  living 
things,  whether  plants  or  animals,  which  are  brought  to  or 
naturally  arrive  at  such  an  area,  survive  and  supplant  the 
indigenous  plants  and  animals  of  that  area,  if  they  them- 
selves are  kinds  (species)  produced  or  formed  in  a  larger  or 
more  variegated  area ;  that  is  to  say,  formed  under  severer 
conditions  of  competition  and  of  struggle  with  a  larger 
variety  of  competitors,  enemies  and  adverse  circumstances 
in  general.  Thus,  the  plants  of  remote  oceanic  islands  are 
destroyed,  and  their  place  and  their  food  are  taken  by  the 
more  hardy  "  capable  "  plants  of  Continental  origin.  And, 
in  accordance  with  the  same  principle,  as  Darwin  especially 
maintained,  the  plants  of  the  northern  hemisphere,  pro- 
duced as  they  are  in  a  wide  stretching  belt  of  land- 
Europe,  temperate  Asia,  and  North  America — always  push 
their  way  down  the  great  southern  stretches  of  land  (by 
cool  mountain  roadways),  and  when  they  have  arrived  in 
the  temperate  regions  of  the  southern  hemisphere,  they 
have  at  various  geological  epochs  starved  out,  taken  the 
place  of,  or  literally  "  supplanted  "  the  native  southern  flora, 
which  in  every  case  has  been  formed  on  a  narrow,  restricted 
and  peninsula-like  area.  The  same  greater  "  potency  "  of 
the  animals  of  the  Holartic  region  has  in  the  past  established 
them  as  intruders  into  South  America,  Ethiopia  and  India, 
and  has  led  to  the  inevitable  survival  of  the  animal  of  the 
large  area  when  brought  into  contact  with  the  animal  of 
the  small  and  restricted  area.  Applying  these  principles 
to  New  Zealand,  we  see  that  no  country,  no  area  of  land, 
could  have  a  worse  chance  for  the  survival  of  its  animal 
and  vegetable  children  than  that  mysterious  land,  isolated 
for  many  millions  of  years  in  the  ocean,  the  home  of  the 
Tuatara,  solitary  survivor  of  an  immensely  remote  geologic 
age,  the  undisturbed  kingdom  of  huge  birds,  so  easy-going 
that  they  have  ceased  to  fly,  and  have  even  lost  their  wings  ! 


INTRODUCED   ANIMALS  363 

The  first  European  animals  to  settle  there  were  the 
pigs  benevolently  introduced  into  New  Zealand  by  Cap- 
tain Cook.  They  multiplied  apace,  served  for  food  and 
sport  both  to  the  natives  and  the  early  settlers,  and  de- 
stroyed the  ancient  Triassic  reptile,  the  Tuatara,  which  only 
survives  now  on  rocky  islands  near  the  coast.  In  less  than 
a  hundred  years  the  settlers  had  introduced  sheep  and 
cattle,  and  looked  upon  the  abounding  pigs  as  a  scourge. 
In  1862,  pfg-hunters  were  employed  to  destroy  them — 
three  hunters  would  kill  20,000  pigs  in  a  year.  Dogs, 
cats  and  the  European  rats  came  in  early  with  the  settlers, 
and  destroyed  the  flightless  birds,  driving  them  for  shelter 
to  the  mountains.  As  the  settlers  increased  they  shot 
down  millions  of  birds  of  all  kinds,  and  burnt  up  grass, 
shrub,  and  bush.  At  last,  a  few  years  ago,  the  Govern- 
ment established  three  islands  as  "  sanctuaries,"  where 
many  of  the  more  interesting  birds  survive,  and  are 
increasing. 

Besides  cattle  and  sheep  (which  have  flourished  ex- 
ceedingly) the  colonists  introduced  rabbits,  pheasants,  and 
the  honey-bee,  and  later  on  quails,  hares,  deer,  and  trout. 
Clover  depends  on  bees  for  its  fertilisation  and  seeding. 
White  clover,  taken  over  there  for  pasture,  did  not  seed 
in  New  Zealand  until  the  honey-bee  was  imported  in 
1842,  and  later,  as  they  could  not  seed  red-clover  without 
it,  the  colonists  had  to  introduce  the  humble-bee,  and 
the  red-clover  now  also  seeds  freely  and  the  imported 
farm-beasts  have  their  accustomed  food.  Besides  the 
animals  already  named,  the  colonists  have  introduced 
ferrets  and  weasels,  to  reduce  the  destructive  excess  of 
the  imported  rabbits  ;  and  they,  whilst  failing  to  subdue 
the  rabbits,  have  themselves  become  a  serious  nuisance. 
Of  small  birds  there  were  introduced  the  house-sparrow, 
which  is  too  prolific,  and  is  hated  by  the  farmers  ;  the 
greenfinch,  a  pest ;  the  bullfinch,  a  failure.  The  intrc- 


364        ANIMAL    LIFE    IN    NEW    ZEALAND 

duced  sky-lark  and  the  blackbird  (alas  !  poor  colonists) 
are  not  the  joys  of  New  Zealanders — the  farmers  hate 
them.  The  European  settlers  had  the  audacity  to  intro- 
duce also  the  most  beautiful  and  beloved  of  all  birds,  our 
own  perfect  "  Robin  Redbreast,"  and  they  add  want  of 
manners  to  their  violent  and  uncalled-for  hospitality  by 
speaking  ill  of  this  sweetest  and  brightest  of  living  things. 
After  this,  I  am  rather  glad  to  report  that  the  esteemed 
table-delicacies,  pheasants  and  partridges,  don't  get  on 
well  in  New  Zealand  ;  nor  do  turtle-doves.  The  thrush 
is  spreading  and  meets  with  the  approval  of  the  hyper- 
critical New  Zealander.  The  hedge-sparrow,  the  chaffinch 
and  the  goldfinch  have  flourished  abundantly,  but  the 
linnet  has  failed.  A  very  interesting  and  important  pro- 
blem for  New  Zealand  naturalists  to  solve  is  that  as  to 
why  one  bird  succeeds  in  their  remote  land  and  another 
does  not.  The  British  trout  have  grown  to  an  enormous 
size  and  are  destroying  all  other  fresh-water  life.  Im- 
ported red-deer  flourish,  and  are  shot  with  great  satisfac- 
tion by  the  colonists.  The  American  elk  has  been  intro- 
duced in  the  South  Island,  and  the  mountain  goats — the 
ibex  and  the  thar — are  to  be  acclimatised  in  the  moun- 
tains, so  that  unnatural  "  sport"  may  flourish  in  this  ancient 
land  of  quiet  and  of  wondrous  birds,  turned  topsy-turvy  by 
enlightened  man. 


CHAPTER    XXVIII 
THE    EFFAGEMENT    OF    NATURE    BY    MAN 

VERY  few  people  have  any  idea  of  the  extent  to 
which  man  since  his  upgrowth  in  the  late  Tertiary 
period  of  the  geologists — perhaps  a  million  years  ago — 
has  actively  modified  the  face  of  Nature,  the  vast  herds 
of  animals  he  has  destroyed,  the  forests  he  has  burnt  up, 
the  deserts  he  has  produced,  and  the  rivers  he  has 
polluted.  It  is,  no  doubt,  true  that  changes  proceeded, 
and  are  proceeding,  in  the  form  of  the  earth's  face  and  in 
its  climate  without  man  having  anything  to  say  in  the 
matter.  Changes  in  climate  and  in  the  connections  of 
islands  and  continents  across  great  seas  and  oceans  have 
gone  on,  and  are  going  on,  and  in  consequence  endless 
kinds  of  animals  and  plants  have  been,  some  extin- 
guished, some  forced  to  migrate  to  new  areas,  many 
slowly  modified  in  shape,  size,  and  character,  and  abun- 
dantly produced.  But  over  and  above  these  slow  irresis- 
tible changes  there  has  been  a  vast  destruction  and 
defacement  of  the  living  world  by  the  uncalculating 
reckless  procedure  of  both  savage  and  civilised  man 
which  is  little  short  of  appalling,  and  is  all  the  more 
ghastly  in  that  the  results  have  been  very  rapidly  brought 
about,  that  no  compensatory  production  of  new  life, 
except  that  of  man  himself  and  his  distorted  "  breeds  "  of 
domesticated  animals,  has  accompanied  the  destruction 
of  formerly  flourishing  creatures,  and  that,  so  far  as  we 


366  THE  EFFAGEMENT  OF  NATURE  BY  MAN 

can  see,  if  man  continues  to  act  in  the  reckless  way 
which  has  characterised  his  behaviour  hitherto,  he  will 
multiply  to  such  an  enormous  extent  that  only  a  few 
kinds  of  animals  and  plants  which  serve  him  for  food  and 
fuel  will  be  left  on  the  face  of  the  globe.  It  is  not  im- 
probable that  even  these  will  eventually  disappear,  and 
man  will  be  indeed  monarch  of  all  he  surveys.  He  will 
have  converted  the  gracious  earth,  once  teeming  with 
innumerable,  incomparably  beautiful  varieties  of  life,  into 
a  desert — or,  at  best,  a  vast  agricultural  domain  abandoned 
to  the  production  of  food-stuffs  for  the  hungry  millions 
which,  like  maggots  consuming  a  carcase,  or  the  irre- 
pressible swarms  of  the  locust,  incessantly  devour  and 
multiply. 

Another  glacial  period  or  an  overwhelming  catastrophe 
of  cosmic  origin  may  fortunately,  at  some  distant  epoch, 
check  the  blind  process  of  destruction  of  natural  things 
and  the  insane  pullulation  of  humanity.  But  there  are, 
it  seems  probable,  many  centuries  of  what  would  seem  to 
the  men  of  to-day  deplorable  ugliness  and  cramping 
pressure  in  store  for  posterity  unless  an  unforeseen 
awakening  of  the  human  race  to  the  inevitable  results  of 
its  present  recklessness  should  occur.  Whatever  may  be 
the  ultimate  fate  of  the  life  of  the  earth  under  man's 
operations,  we  should  endeavour  at  this  moment  to  delay, 
as  far  as  possible,  the  hateful  consummation  looming 
ahead  of  us. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  a  few  instances  of  man's  destruc- 
tive action.  Even  in  prehistoric  times  it  is  probable  that 
man,  by  hunting  the  mammoth — the  great  hairy  elephant 
— assisted  in  its  extinction,  if  he  did  not  actually  bring  it 
about.  At  a  remote  prehistoric  period  the  horses  of 
various  kinds  which  abounded  in  North  and  South 
America  rapidly  and  suddenly  became  extinct.  It  has 
been  suggested,  with  some  show  of  probability,  that  a 


DISAPPEARANCE   OF   GREAT  ANIMALS     367 

previously  unknown  epidemic  disease  due  to  a  parasitic 
organism — such  as  those  which  we  now  see  ravaging  the 
herds  of  South  Africa — found  its  way  to  the  American  con- 
tinent. And  it  is  quite  possible  that  this  was  brought  from 
the  other  hemisphere  by  the  first  men  who  crossed  the 
Pacific  and  populated  North  America. 

To  come  to  matters  of  certainty  and  not  of  speculation, 
we  know  that  man  by  clearing  the  land,  as  well  as  by 
actively  hunting  and  killing  it,  made  an  end  of  the  great 
wild  ox  of  Europe,  the  aurochs  or  urus  of  Caesar,  the  last 
of  which  was  killed  near  Warsaw  in  1627.  He  similarly 
destroyed  the  bison,  first  in  Europe  and  then  (in  our  own 
days)  in  North  America.  A  few  hundred,  carefully 
guarded,  are  all  that  remain  in  the  two  continents.  He 
has  very  nearly  made  an  end  of  the  elk  in  Europe,  and 
will  soon  do  so  completely  in  America.  The  wolf  and 
the  beaver  were  destroyed  in  these  British  Islands  about - 
400  years  ago.  They  are  rapidly  disappearing  from 
France,  and  will  soon  be  exterminated  in  Scandinavia  and 
Russia  and  in  Canada.  At  a  remote  prehistoric  period 
the  bear  was  exterminated  by  man  in  Britain  and  the  lion 
driven  from  the  whole  of  Europe,  except  Macedonia,  where 
it  still  flourished  in  the  days  of  the  ancient  Greeks.  It 
was  common  in  Asia  Minor  a  few  centuries  ago.  The 
giraffe  and  the  elephant  have  departed  from  South 
Africa  before  the  encroachments  of  civilised  man.  The 
day  is  not  distant  when  they  will  cease  to  exist  in  the 
wild  state  in  any  part  of  Africa,  and  with  them  are 
vanishing  many  splendid  antelopes.  Even  our  "  nearest 
and  dearest  "  relatives  in  the  animal  world,  the  gorilla, 
the  chimpanzee  and  the  ourang,  are  doomed.  Now  that 
man  has  learnt  to  defy  malaria  and  other  fevers  the 
tropical  forest  will  be  occupied  by  the  greedy  civilised 
horde  of  humanity,  and  there  will  be  no  room  for  the 
most  interesting  and  wonderful  of  all  animals,  the  man- 


368  THE  EFFAGEMENT  OF   NATURE   BY  MAN 

like  apes,  unless  (as  we  may  hope  in  their  case,  at  any 
rate)  such  living  monuments  of  human  history  are  made 
sacred  and  treated  with  greater  care  than  are  our  ancient 
monuments  in  stone.  Smaller  creatures,  birds  like  the  dodo 
and  the  great  auk  and  a  whole  troop  of  others  less 
familiar,  have  disappeared  and  are  disappearing  under  the 
human  blight.  Even  some  beautiful  insects — the  great 
copper  butterfly  and  the  swallow-tail  butterfly — have  been 
exterminated  in  England  by  human  "  progress "  in  the 
shape  of  the  drainage  of  the  Fen  country. 

But  the  most  repulsive  of  the  destructive  results  of 
human  expansion  is  the  poisoning  of  rivers,  and  the  con- 
sequent extinction  in  them  of  fish  and  of  well-nigh  every 
living  thing,  save  mould  and  putrefactive  bacteria.  In  the 
Thames  it  will  soon  be  a  hundred  years  since  man,  by  his 
filthy  proceedings,  banished  the  glorious  salmon,  and 
murdered  the  innocents  of  the  eel-fare.  Even  at  its  foulest 
time,  however,  the  Thames  mud  was  blood-red  (really 
"  blood-red,"  since  the  colour  was  due  to  the  same  blood- 
crystals  which  colour  our  own  blood)  with  the  swarms  of 
a  delicate  little  worm  like  the  earth-worm,  which  has  an 
exceptional  power  of  living  in  foul  water,  and  nourishing 
itself  upon  putrid  mud.  In  old  days  I  have  stood  on 
Hungerford  Suspension  Bridge  and  seen  the  mud-banks 
as  a  great  red  band  of  colour,  stretching  for  a  mile  along 
the  picture  when  the  tide  was  low.  In  smaller  streams, 
especially  in  the  mining  and  manufacturing  districts  of 
England,  progressive  money-making  man  has  converted 
the  most  beautiful  things  of  nature — trout  streams — into 
absolutely  dead  corrosive  chemical  sewers.  The  sight  of 
one  of  these  death-stricken  black  filth-gutters  makes  one 
shudder  as  the  picture  rises,  in  one's  mind,  of  a  world  in 
which  all  the  rivers  and  the  waters  of  the  sea-shore  wrill 
be  thus  dedicated  to  acrid  sterility,  and  the  meadows  and 
hill-sides  will  be  drenched  with  nauseating  chemical 


MAN'S   RECKLESS   GREED  369 

manures.  Such  a  state  of  things  is  possibly  in  store  for 
future  generations  of  men  !  It  is  not  "  science  "  that  will 
be  to  blame  for  these  horrors,  but  should  they  come 
about  they  will  be  due  to  the  reckless  greed  and  the  mere 
insect-like  increase  of  humanity. 

In  the  destruction  of  trees  and  all  kinds  of  plants  man 
has  deliberately  done  more  mischief  than  in  the  exter- 
mination of  animals.  By  inadvertence  he  has  completely 
abolished  the  strange  and  remarkable  trees  and  shrubs  of 
islands — such  as  St.  Helena — where  the  herbivorous 
animals  introduced  by  him  have  made  short  work  of  the 
wonderful  native  plants  isolated  for  ages,  and  have  com- 
pletely exterminated  them,  so  that  they  are  "  extinct." 
We  have  just  had  the  opportunity  of  studying  one  of  the 
few  oceanic  islands — "  Christmas  Island  "  (forty  square 
miles  in  area)- — untouched  by  man  until  thirty  years  ago. 
It  lies  200  miles  south  of  Java.  Its  native  inhabitants, 
plants  and  animals  were  carefully  examined,  and  speci- 
mens secured  twenty  years  ago.  There  were  then  no 
human  inhabitants,  and  the  island  was  rarely  visited.  It 
was,  however,  about  twelve  years  ago  handed  over  by  its 
proprietors  to  some  thousand  Chinamen  to  dig  and  ship 
the  15,000,000  tons  of  valuable  "phosphate  "  (at  a  profit 
of  a  guinea  a  ton),  which  forms  a  large  part  of  its  surface. 
And  now  from  time  to  time  we  shall  have  reports  of  this 
result  of  contact  with  man,  and  through  him  with  all  the 
plagues  and  curses  of  the  great  world.  Already  a  remark- 
able shrew-mouse  and  two  native  species  of  rat,  peculiar 
to  the  island,  have  disappeared.  Dr.  Andrews  ('  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Zoological  Society,'  February  2nd,  1909),  who 
has  twice  explored  the  island,  gives  evidence  that  this  is 
caused  by  a  parasitic  disease  (due  to  a  trypanosome  like 
those  which  cause  sleeping-sickness  and  various  horse  and 
cattle  diseases)  introduced  by  the  common  black  rats  from 

24 


370  THE   EFFACEMENT  OF   NATURE   BY  MAN 

the  ships  which  now  frequent  the  island.  The  further 
progress  of  destruction  will  be  carefully  and  minutely 
observed  and  recorded — but  not  arrested  ! 

It  is,  however,  in  cutting  down  and  burning  forests  of 
large  trees  that  man  has  done  the  most  harm  to  himself 
and  the  other  living  occupants  of  many  regions  of  the 
earth's  surface.     We  can  trace  these  evil  results  from  more 
recent  examples  back  into  the  remote  past.      The  water 
supply  of  the  town  of  Plymouth  was  assured  by  Drake, 
who  brought  water  in  a  channel  from  Dartmoor.     But  the 
cutting  down  of  the  trees  has  now  rendered  the  great  wet 
sponge  of  the  Dartmoor  region,  from  which  the  water  was 
drawn  all  the  year,  no  longer  a   sponge.      It  no   longer 
"  holds  "  the  water  of  the  rainfall,  but  in  consequence  of 
the  removal  of  the  forest  and   the  digging  of  ditches  the 
water  quickly  runs   off  the  moor,  and  subsequently  the 
whole    country-side   suffers  from  drought.      This  sort  of 
thing   has    occurred   wherever   man  has  been  sufficiently 
civilised  and  enterprising  to  commit  the  folly  of  destroying 
forests.      Forests    have    an    immense    effect    on    climate, 
causing  humidity  of  both  the  air  and  the  soil,  and  give 
rise    to    moderate    and    persistent    instead    of    torrential 
streams.       Spain    has    been    irretrievably  injured  by  the 
cutting  down  of  her  forests  in  the  course  of  a  few  hundred 
years.     The  same  thing  is  going  on,  to  a  disastrous  extent, 
in  parts  of  the  United   States.      Whole  provinces  of  the 
Thibetan  borders  of  China  have  been  converted  into  un- 
inhabitable, sandy  desert,  where  centuries  ago  were  fertile 
and  well-watered  pastures  supporting  rich  cities,  in  conse- 
quence  of  the   reckless   destruction    of   forest.      In    fact, 
whether   it   is  due   to    man's    improvident    action    or    to 
natural  climatic  changes,  it  appears  that  the  formation  of 
"  desert "  is  due  in  the  first  place  to  the  destruction  of 
forest,  the  consequent  formation  of  a  barren,  sandy  area, 
and  the  subsequent  spreading  of  what  we  may  call  the 


HOPE  IN  IRRIGATION  371 

"  disease  "  or  "  desert  ulcer,"  by  the  blowing  of  the  fatally 
exposed  sand  and  the  gradual  extension,  owing  to  the 
action  of  the  sand  itself,  of  the  area  of  destroyed  vegeta- 
tion. Sand-deserts  are  not,  as  used  to  be  supposed,  sea- 
bottoms  from  which  the  water  has  retreated,  but  areas  of 
destruction  of  vegetation — often  (though  not  always),  both 
in  Central  Asia  and  in  North  Africa  (Egypt,  etc.),  started 
by  the  deliberate  destruction  of  forest  by  man,  who  has 
either  by  artificial  drainage  starved  the  forest,  or  by  the 
simple  use  of  the  axe  and  fire  cleared  it  away. 

The  great  art  of  irrigation  was  studied  and  used  with 
splendid  success  by  the  ancient  nations  of  the  near  East. 
They  converted  deserts  into  gardens,  and  their  work  was 
an  act  of  compensation  and  restitution  to  be  set  off 
against  the  destructive  operations  of  more  barbarous  men. 
But  they,  too,  long  ago  were  themselves  destroyed  by  con- 
quering hordes  of  more  ignorant  but  more  war-like  men, 
and  their  irrigation  works  and  the  whole  art  of  irrigation 
perished  with  them.  One  of  the  absolutely  necessary  works 
to  be  carried  out  by  civilised  man,  when  he  has  ceased  to 
build  engines  of  war  and  destruction,  is  the  irrigation  of  the 
great  waterless  territories  of  the  globe.  A  little  home-work 
of  the  kind  has  been  carried  on  in  Italy  regularly  year  by 
year  since  the  days  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  and  our  Indian 
Government  is  slowly  copying  the  Italian  example.  In 
Egypt  we  have  built  the  great  dam  of  Assouan,  whilst 
in  Mesopotamia  it  is  proposed  to  re-establish  the  irriga- 
tion system  by  which  it  once  was  made  rich  and  fertile. 
But,  as  has  lately  been  maintained  by  Mr.  Rose  Smith  in 
his  book,  '  The  Growth  of  Nations,'  the  vast  possibilities 
of  irrigation  have  not  yet  been  realised  by  the  business 
men  of  the  modern  world.  Millions  of  acres  in  the 
warmer  regions  of  the  earth  now  unproductive  can  be 
made  to  yield  food  to  mankind  and  rich  pecuniary  profits 
to  the  capitalists  who  shall  introduce  modern  engineer- 


372 


THE   EFFAGEMENT  OF  NATURE   BY  MAN 


ing   methods   and   a   scientific   system    of  irrigation    into 
those  areas. 

The  whole  problem  of  the  increase  of  the  more  civilised 
races  and  the  necessary  accompanying  increase  of  food- 
production  depends  for  its  solution  on  the  speedy  intro- 
duction of  irrigation  methods  into  what  are  now  the  great 
unproductive  deserts  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER    XXIX 

THE    EXTINCTION    OF    THE    BISON    AND    OF 
WHALES 

THE  almost  complete  and  very  sudden  disappearance 
of  the  bison  in  North  America  thirty  years  ago 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  due  simply  to  the  slaughter 
of  tens  of  thousands  of  these  creatures  by  men  who  made 
a  commerce  of  so-called  "  buffalo-rugs."  These  "hunters" 
miscalled  the  unhappy  bison,  which  is  not  a  buffalo,  nor 
at  all  like  that  creature,  just  as  they  gave  the  name  "elk" 
to  the  great  red  deer  (the  wapiti),  although  there  was  a 
real  elk,  the  so-called  "  moose,"  staring  them  in  the  face. 
The  sudden  extinction  of  the  bison  resulted  partly  from 
the  slaughter  and  partly  from  the  breaking  up  of  the 
herds  and  the  interference  with  their  free  migration  by 
the  trans-continental  railway.  An  interesting  discovery 
made  only  this  year,  in  regard  to  the  closely  allied 
European  bison,  suggests  that  disease  may  also  have 
played  a  part  in  the  destruction  of  the  North  American 
bison.  A  few  hundred  individuals  of  the  European  bison 
are  all  that  remain  at  this  day.  Some  are  carefully  pre- 
served by  the  Emperor  of  Russia  in  a  tract  of  suitable 
country  in  Lithuania  and  another  herd  exists  in  the 
Caucasus.  Some  of  the  Lithuanian  bison  have  lately 
been  dying  in  an  unaccountable  way,  and  on  investigating 
a  dead  individual  a  Russian  observer  has  discovered  a 
"  trypanosome  "  parasite  in  the  blood.  The  trypanosomes 


374  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  BISON  AND  WHALES 

are  microscopic  corkscrew-like  creatures,  of  which  many 
kinds  have  become  known  within  the  last  ten  or  fifteen 
years.  They  are  "  single  cells  "-—that  is  to  say,  "  proto- 
plasmic "  animalcules  of  the  simplest  structure — provided 
with  a  vibrating  crest  and  tail  by  means  of  which  they 
swim  with  incessant  screw-like  movement  through  the 
blood.  They  rarely  exceed  one  thousandth  of  an  inch  in 
length  exclusive  of  the  tail.  The  poisons  which  they 
produce  by  their  life  in  the  blood  are  the  cause  of  the 
sleeping-sickness  of  man  (in  tropical  Africa),  of  the  horse 
and  cattle  disease  carried  by  the  tsetze  fly,  and  of  many 
similar  deadly  diseases — a  separate  "  species  "  being  dis- 
covered in  each  disease.  A  peculiar  species  is  found  in 
the  blood  of  the  common  frog,  and  another  in  that  of  the 
sewer-rat.  The  last  discovery  of  a  "  trypanosome  "  is 
that  of  one  in  the  blood  of  the  African  elephant,  announced 
to  the  Royal  Society  by  Sir  David  Bruce. 

It  is  a  matter  of  great  interest  that  a  trypanosome  has 
been  found  in  a  death-stricken  herd  of  European  bison. 
It  suggests  that  one  of  the  causes  of  the  disappearance  of 
the  bison,  both  in  Europe  and  America,  may  be  the 
infection  of  their  blood  by  trypanosomes,  and  that  possibly, 
whilst  a  freely  migrating  and  vigorous  herd  would  not  be 
extensively  infected,  a  dwindled  and  confined  herd  may 
be  more  liable  to  infection,  and  that  thus  the  final  destruc- 
tion of  an  already  decadent  animal  may  be  brought  about. 
It  would  now  be  a  matter  of  extreme  interest  to  ascertain 
whether  the  few  dwindled  herds  of  bison  in  North 
America  are  infected  by  trypanosomes,  and  no  doubt  we 
shall  soon  receive  reports  on  the  subject 

A  most  interesting  branch  of  this  subject  of  the  un- 
thinking extermination  of  great  animals  by  man  is  that 
of  the  extermination  of  whales.  Man  is  worrying  them 
out  of 'existence.  Some  are  already  beyond  saving.  It 
would  be  interesting  to  know  whether  there  are  trypano- 


DROWNING   IN  A   DEAD   WHALE'S  HEART    375 

somes  or  other  blood-parasites  in  whales.  I  suppose  that 
no  one  has  an  ill-feeling  towards  whales.  Most  of  us  have 
never  seen  a  whale,  either  alive  or  in  the  flesh — only  a 
skeleton.  I  have  seen  a  live  whale  or  two  off  the  coast 
of  Norway  ;  and  I  once,  in  conjunction  with  my  friend 
Moseley,  when  we  were  students  at  Oxford,  cut  up  one, 
1 8  ft.  long,  which  had  been  exhibited  for  three  weeks 
during  the  summer  in  a  tent  on  the  shores  of  the  Bristol 
Channel,  where  we  purchased  it.  The  skeleton  of  that 
whale  is  now  in  the  museum  at  Oxford,  but  happily  the 
smell  of  it  exists  only  in  my  memory.  The  late  Mr. 
Gould,  who  produced  such  beautifully  illustrated  books  on 
birds,  told  me  that  he  once  fell  into  the  heart  of  a  full- 
sized  whale,  which  he  was  cutting  up.  He  narrowly 
escaped  drowning  in  the  blood.  The  whale  was  not  very 
fresh,  and  Mr.  Gould  was  unapproachable  for  a  week. 

An  immense  number  of  whales  are  killed  every  year 
for  their  oil,  and  their  highly  nutritious  flesh  is  wasted. 
There  was  an  attempt  some  years  ago  to  make  meat 
extract  from  it.  Some  which  was  brought  to  me  reminded 
me  of  the  whale  on  the  shores  of  the  Bristol  Channel.  I 
do  not  know  if  the  extract  has  proved  palatable  to  other 
people.  The  Norwegians  are  specially  expert  in  killing 
whales.  They  have  been  allowed  to  set  up  "  factories  " 
on  the  west  coast  of  Ireland  and  in  the  Shetlands,  v/here 
they  kill  whales  with  harpoons  fired  from  guns,  cut  them 
up,  and  boil  down  the  fat. 

Whales  are  warm-blooded  creatures  which  suckle  their 
young,  and  have  been  developed  in  past  geological  times 
from  land  animals — the  primitive  carnivors — which  were 
also  the  ancestors  of  dogs,  bears,  seals  and  cats.  Whales 
have  lost  the  hind  limbs  altogether  and  developed  the 
forelegs  into  finger-less  flippers,  whilst  the  tail  is  provided 
with  "  flukes  "  like  the  fins  of  a  fish's  tail  in  shape,  but 
horizontal  instead  of  vertical.  The  whole  form  is  fish- 


376  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  BISON  AND  WHALES 

like,  the  skin  smooth  and  hairless.  It  is  a  remarkable 
conclusion  arrived  at  by  the  investigators  of  the  remains 
of  extinct  animals  that  a  little  four-legged  creature  the 
size  of  a  spaniel,  and  intermediate  in  character  between  a 
hedgehog  and  a  dog,  was  the  common  ancestor  from 
which  have  been  derived  such  widely  different  creatures 
as  the  whale  and  the  bat,  the  elephant  and  the  man.  We 
can  at  the  present  day  trace  with  some  certainty  the 
gradual  modifications  of  form  by  which  in  the  course  of 
many  millions  of  years  the  change  from  the  primitive, 
dog-like  hedgehog  to  each  of  those  four  living  "  types  " 
has  proceeded. 

The  whales  of  to-day  are  divided  into  the  toothed  whales 
and  the  whalebone  whales.  The  great  cachalot  or  sperm 
whale  is  captured,  chiefly  in  the  Southern  Ocean,  and 
killed  in  large  numbers  for  the  sake  of  the  "  spermaceti," 
or  "sperm  oil,"  which  forms  the  great  mass  of  its  head, 
but  he  is  so  fierce  and  active  that  he  is  not  easily  captured, 
and  is  not  in  immediate  .danger  of  extinction.  The 
smaller  toothed  whales,  the  killers,  dolphins,  and  porpoises 
(though  one  of  them — the  bottle-nosed  whale — is  being 
killed  out),  are  not  as  yet  seriously  threatened  by  com- 
mercial man.  But  the  whalebone  whales  are  in  a  parlous 
state.  The  right  whales  as  they  are  called  are  the  chief 
of  these.  They  are  huge  creatures,  60  ft.  in  length,  with 
an  enormous  head  :  it  is  as  much  as  one  third  of  the  total 
length  in  the  Greenland  whale.  Besides  the  Greenland 
species  there  are  four  other  "  right  whales,"  which  may  be 
considered  as  four  varieties  of  one  species.  The  head  is  not 
quite  so  large  in  them.  The  Biscay  whale  is  one  of  them, 
and  was  hunted  until  it  was  exterminated  in  the  Bay  of 
Biscay,  when  the  whalers,  extending  their  operations 
further  and  further  north,  came  upon  the  Greenland  whale, 
which  proved  to  be  even  more  valuable  than  the  Biscay 
species.  The  huge  mouth  in  these  two  whales  has  hang- 


THE   VALUE   OF   WHALEBONE  377 

ing  from  its  sides  within  the  lips  a  series  of  long  bars 
or  planks  of  wonderfully  strong,  elastic,  horny  substance 
—the  "  baleen  "  or  "  whalebone  " — each  plank  being  as 
much  as  eight  or  in  rare  cases  twelve  feet  long.  Following 
close  on  one  another  and  having  hairy  edges,  they  act  as 
strainers  so  as  to  separate  the  floating  food  of  the  whale 
from  the  water  which  rushes  through  its  mouth  as  it 
swims.  The  whalebone  is  of  great  value  commercially,  as 
is  also  the  fat  or  oil.  A  hundred  years  ago  whalebone 
fetched  only  £2$  a  ton,  now  the  same  quantity  fetches 
more  than  £1500.  The  Rorquals,  or  "  Finners,"  have 
smaller  heads  and  mouths  ;  their  whalebone  is  so  short  as 
to  be  valueless,  but  they  grow  to  even  greater  size  than 
the  Right  whales  and  are  found  on  our  own  coasts  and  all 
over  the  world.  The  Hump-back  whale  is  one  of  these 
"  Finners,"  distinguished  by  its  excessively  long  flippers 
and  huge  bulk. 

The  Biscay  whale  was  the  first  of  these  great  creatures 
to  be  hunted.  The  Basques  began  its  capture  as  early  as 
the  ninth  century.  It  was  exterminated  by  them  in  the 
Bay  of  Biscay,  and  only  saved  from  complete  extinction 
elsewhere  by  the  discovery  of  the  more  valuable  Arctic  or 
Greenland  whale.  The  capture  of  the  Greenland  whale 
began  in  1612,  and  in  200  years  the  unceasing  pursuit 
of  this  species  had  driven  it  to  the  remote  places  of  the 
Arctic  Ocean.  It  is  now  so  rare  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  send  a  ship  out  for  the  purpose  of  hunting  it,  and 
it  will  probably  never  recover  its  numbers.  An  idea  of 
its  value  and  former  abundance  may  be  formed  from  the 
fact  that  between  1669  and  1778  it  yielded  to  1400 
Dutch  vessels  about  57,000  individuals,  of  which  the 
baleen  and  oil  produced  a  money  value  of  four  million 
pounds  sterling.  Of  late  years  a  single  large  Greenland 
whale  would  bring  ^900  for  its  whalebone  and  £300  for. 
its  oil.  These  two  great  Right  whales  having  been 


378  EXTINCTION  OF  THE  BISON  AND  WHALES 

practically  exterminated,  the  merciless  hunt  has  now  been 
turned  on  to  the  wilder  and  less  valuable  Finback  whales 
or  Finners.  In  these  days  of  steam  and  electric  light  the 
Arctic  night  is  robbed  of  its  terrors,  and  the  whale  chase 
goes  on  very  fast.  The  shot  harpoon  was  invented  in 
1870  by  Sven  Foyn,  a  Norwegian,  and  is  the  most 
deadly  and  extraordinary  weapon  ever  devised  by  man 
for  the  pursuit  of  helpless  animals.  It  is  this  invention 
(a  commercial,  not  a  scientific,  discovery !)  which  has,  in 
conjunction  with  swift  steamships,  rendered  the  destruc- 
tion of  whales  a  matter  of  ease  and  deadly  certainty. 
It  is  this  which  is  being  used  on  the  Irish  as  on  the 
Scandinavian  coast,  resulting  in  the  pollution  of  the  air 
and  water  by  the  carcases  of  the  slaughtered  beasts  from 
which  the  oil  has  been  extracted.  This  revolting  butchery, 
without  foresight  or  intelligence,  is  carried  on  solely  for 
the  satisfaction  of  human  greed,  and  apparently  will  be 
stopped  only  by  the  extinction  of  the  yet  remaining  whales, 
In  forty  years  in  the  middle  of  last  century  the  whale  fishery 
of  the  United  States  yielded  300,000  whales  to  20,000 
voyages,  and  a  value  of  sixty-five  million  pounds  sterling 
in  baleen  and  oil.  It  is  calculated  that  in  the  thousand 
years  during  which  man  has  hunted  the  great  whales  not 
less  than  a  million  individuals  have  been  captured.  Man's 
skill  and  capacity  have  now  become  such  that  he  will  soon 
have  cleared  the  ocean  of  these  wonderful  creatures,  since, 
like  the  bison,  the  whales  cannot  persist  when  harried  and 
interfered  with  beyond  a  certain  limited  degree. 

It  appears  that  the  curious  musk  ox  which  now  lives 
on  the  fringe  of  the  Artie  circle,  and  in  the  glacial  period 
existed  in  the  Thames  Valley,  is  doomed.  There  (as  in 
similar  instances  in  other  lands),  the  comparatively  harm- 
less savage  race  of  men  (in  this  case  the  Eskimo),  whose 
weapons  did  not  enable  them  seriously  to  threaten  the 
existence  of  the  animals  around  them,  have  now  obtained 


NO   MORE   TURTLE   SOUP 


379 


efficient  firearms.  The  musk  ox  is  consequently  now 
between  two  lines  of  fire — that  of  the  white  hunter  on  the 
south,  and  of  the  Eskimo  on  the  north. 

From  regions  far  remote  from  the  Arctic  complaints 
come  of  an  even  more  reckless  destruction  of  helpless 
animals.  Perhaps  our  legislators  may  feel  some  personal 
concern  in  this  case,  since  it  is  neither  more  nor  less  than 
the  approaching  extinction  of  the  turtle,  the  true  green 
turtle  of  City  fame,  to  eat  which  at  the  invitation  of  City 
dignitaries  is  one  of  the  few  duties  of  a  legislator.  Both 
the  green  turtles  and  the  tortoise-shell  turtles  are  being 
destroyed  indiscriminately  on  the  coast  of  Florida  and 
in  many  West  Indian  Islands  by  brutal,  careless,  "white" 
beach-combers  and  idlers.  By  proper  care  of  the  eggs 
and  young  the  turtles  could  easily  be  increased  enormously 
in  number,  and  a  regulated  capture  of  them  be  made  to 
yield  a  legitimate  profit.  But  neither  the  United  States 
Government,  nor  our  own,  take  any  steps  to  restrain 
promiscuous  slaughter  of  the  turtles  which  come  to  the 
shore  in  order  to  lay  their  eggs.  Soon  the  City  Fathers 
will  have  to  do  without  the  "  green  fat "  and  their 
wives  without  tortoise-shell  combs.  It  will  serve  them 
right.  Such  destitution  in  these — and,  be  it  noted,  in 
many  other  matters — will  deservedly  fall  upon  those  who 
ignorantly,  wilfully,  and  contentedly  neglect  to  take 
steps  to  understand  and  to  control  the  withering  blight 
created  by  modern  man  wherever  he  sets  his  foot. 


CHAPTER    XXX 
MORE    ABOUT   WHALES 

THE  possibility  of  protecting  whales  from  wanton 
slaughter  by  man  is,  no  doubt,  a  matter  open  to 
discussion.  Protection  has,  however,  been  accorded  to 
one  particular  whale  in  an  exceptional  instance.  Passenger 
steamers  along  the  coast  of  New  Zealand  used  to 
call  at  a  station  in  a  narrow  inlet  of  the  coast,  called 
Pelorus  Sound.  A  black  whale,  said  to  be  of  the 
kind  known  as  Risso's  Grampus,  of  about  14  ft.  in  length, 
was  apparently  a  settled  inhabitant  of  this  channel, 
and  used  to  follow  the  steamers  and  accompany  them 
through  the  sound.  He  became  famous  and  popular, 
and  was  known  as  "  Pelorus  Jack."  He  was  always 
looked  for  and  recognised  by  the  sailors  and  passengers. 
Certain  savagely  destructive  persons  on  one  of  these 
steamers — to  the  horror  and  disgust  of  the  New  Zealand 
world — made  an  attempt  to  shoot  "  Pelorus  Jack." 
It  is  stated,  and  believed  by  sailors,  that  ill-luck  conse- 
quently fell  on  that  steamer.  On  its  next  voyage  it  was 
avoided  by  the  whale,  who  had  never  failed  to  welcome 
friendly  and  non-aggressive  steamships,  and  on  a  third 
voyage  the  steamer  was  wrecked.  The  feeling  about 
"  Pelorus  Jack  "  was  so  strong  that  his  Excellency  the 
Governor  of  New  Zealand,  Lord  Plunket,  signed,  on 
September  26th,  1904,  an  Order  in  Council,  protecting 


THE   SHAPE   OF   WHALES  381 

"  Pelorus  Jack  "  by  name  for  five  years,  and  any  person 
interfering  with  him  was  made  liable  to  a  fine  of  £100. 

It  appears  that  under  the  New  Zealand  Sea  Fisheries 
Act  of  1894  the  Governor  in  Council  is  empowered  to 
make  regulations  protecting  any  fish.  Although  zoologi- 
cally not  belonging  to  the  class  of  fishes,  whales  are, 
technically  and  for  all  legal  and  commercial  purposes, 
"  fishes,','  since  they  are  "  fished  "  and  are  the  booty  of 
"  fisheries."  I  believe  that  no  Governor,  Council,  or 
Secretary  of  State  has  power  in  the  British  Islands 
similar  to  that  conferred  on  the  Governor  of  New  Zealand 
by  a  modern  State  v/hich  desires  good  and  effective 
government.  Such  power  is  needed  in  all  parts  of  the 
British  Empire. 

The  whales,  as  compared  with  their  dog-like  ancestors, 
are  modified  to  a  more  extreme  degree  and  in  more  special 
ways  than  is  the  case  in  any  other  group  of  which  we  can 
trace  the  history  over  a  similar  period  of  development. 
This  is  connected  with  the  complete  change  of  conditions 
of  life  to  which  these  mammals  ("  warm-blooded,  air- 
breathing  quadrupeds  which  suckle  their  young  ")  have 
become  adapted  in  passing  from  a  terrestrial  to  a  marine 
existence.  Other  mammalian  ancestors  have  indepen- 
dently taken  to  a  marine  life  and  given  rise  to  strange- 
looking  adaptations,  namely,  the  seals  and  also  the 
Manatee  and  Dugong  known  as  the  Sirenians  (so-called 
because  they  give  rise  to  sailors'  stories  of  mermaids  and 
sirens),  but  these  are  far  less  changed,  less  modified  than 
the  whales.  The  whales  have  acquired  a  completely  fish- 
like  form.  They  frequently  have  a  large  back  fin,  and 
have  lost  the  hind  legs  altogether.  The  horizontally 
spread  flukes  of  the  whale's  tail  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  hind  legs,  whereas  the  common  seal's  hind  legs  are 
tied  together  so  as  to  form  a  sort  of  tail.  In  the  bigger 
whales,  sunk  deep  in  the  muscle  and  blubber,  we  find  on 


382  MORE    ABOUT   WHALES 

each  side  well  forward  in  the  body  (not  near  the  tail)  a 
pair  of  isolated,  unattached  bony  pieces,  which  are  the 
hip-bone  and  thigh-bone — all  that  remains  of  the  hind 
limbs.  The  neck  is  so  short  that  in  many  whales  the 
seven  neck-bones,  or  "  vertebrae,"  are  all  fused  into  one 
solid  piece  not  longer  than  a  single  ordinary  vertebra, 
and  showing  six  grooves  marking  off  the  seven  vertebrae 
which  have  united  into  one. 

The  head  is  more  strangely  altered  than  any  other 
part  of  the  whale.  The  jaws  are  greatly  elongated — so 
as  to  give  a  beak-like  form  in  all — but  this  region  is 
specially  long  and  narrow  in  the  "  beaked  whales  "  known 
to  zoologists  by  the  name  Ziphius,  in  which  it  consists  of 
a  solid  piece  of  ivory-like  bone,  which  we  find  in  a  fossil 
state  in  the  bone-bed  of  the  Suffolk  Crag.  Farther  back 
the  bones  of  the  face  are  suddenly  widened  in  all  whales 
and  porpoises,  and  in  many  these  bones  grow  up  into 
enormous  crests  and  ridges.  The  nostrils,  instead  of 
being  placed,  as  in  other  animals,  at  the  free  end  of  the 
snout  or  beak,  lie  far  back,  so  as  to  form  the  "  blow-hole," 
which  is  near  the  middle  of  the  head. 

The  circulation  of  the  blood  and  the  breathing  of  whales 
(including  in  that  term  the  smaller  kinds  known  as 
dolphins  and  porpoises)  is  still  a  matter  which  is  not  pro- 
perly understood.  When  a  Greenland  whale  is  struck  by 
the  harpoon  it  dives  vertically  downward  to  a  depth  of 
400  fathoms  and  more  (nearly  half  a  mile),  and  occasion- 
ally wounds  the  skin  and  bones  of  its  snout  by  violently 
striking  it  on  the  sea-bottom.  It  remains  below  as  long 
as  forty  minutes.  Physiologists  wish  to  know  how  the 
sudden  compression  of  the  air  in  the  lungs  in  plunging  to 
this  depth  and  the  equally  sudden  expansion  of  it  in 
rising  from  such  a  depth  is  dealt  with  in  the  whale's 
economy,  so  as  to  prevent  the  absolutely  deadly  results 
which  would  ensue  were  any  ordinary  air-breathing  animal 


ENORMOUS  PRESSURE  OF  GAS  IN  BLOOD    383 

subjected  to  such  changes  of  pressure.  Man  can  endure 
without  suffering  an  increase  of  pressure  of  the  gases  in 
his  body  amounting  to  three  or  four  times  that  to  which 
he  is  accustomed,  as,  for  instance,  when  working  in  the 
compressed  air  of  "  caissons."  But  the  whale  goes  sud- 
denly to  a  depth  at  which  the  pressure  is  eighty  times 
that  at  the  surface  !  Then,  too,  man  (and  other  terrestrial 
animals),  after  being  subjected  (for  instance,  in  a  caisson) 
to  a  pressure  of  four  times  that  which  exists  on  the  free 
surface  of  .the  earth,  is  liable  to  be  killed  by  suddenly 
passing  from  that  high  pressure  into  the  ordinary  air. 
The  gases  dissolved  in  his  blood  expand  like  the  gas  in 
a  bottle  of  soda-water  when  the  cork  is  drawn,  and  the 
bubbles  interfere  with  the  circulation  of  the  blood  in  the 
finer  blood-vessels  (of  especial  importance  being  those  of 
the  brain  and  spinal  cord),  and  the  serious  illness  and  the 
death  of  workmen  has  frequently  resulted  from  this  cause. 
Accordingly,  the  men  who  work  in  such  "  compressed 
atmospheres "  are  now  made  to  pass  slowly  through  a 
series  of  three  chambers,  in  each  of  which  the  pressure  is 
diminished  and  brought  nearer  to  that  of  the  normal 
atmosphere.  By  spending  twenty  minutes  in  each 
chamber  successively,  the  workman  is  gradually  brought 
to  the  pressure  of  the  outer  world,  and  his  blood  pre- 
vented from  "  effervescing/'  But  what  must  be  the  con- 
dition of  the  gases  in  the  blood  of  a  whale  which  suddenly 
rises  from  400  fathoms  to  the  surface  ?  The  whale 
suddenly  goes,  not  from  a  pressure  of  four  times  the 
normal  ("  four  atmosphere,"  as  it  is  called),  but  from 
eighty  times  the  normal,  to  the  normal  pressure. 

Whales,  and  also  seals,  are  provided  with  remarkable 
special  networks  of  blood-vessels  in  various  parts  of  the  body 
(called  "  retia  mirabilia  "  by  the  old  anatomists),  and  also 
with  a  thick  layer  of  fat  under  the  skin,  the  "  blubber  " 
(some  feet  deep  in  a  large  whale),  full  of  blood-vessels. 


384  MORE    ABOUT    WHALES 

It  has  been  suggested  that  these  networks  of  blood- 
vessels are  related  in  some  way  both  to  the  power  of 
keeping  long  (forty  minutes  !)  under  water  without 
breathing,  and  also  to  the  freedom  of  these  marine 
monsters  from  the  deadly  effects  of  rapid  passage  from 
great  to  little  gas-pressure.  But  it  is  only  a  suggestion  ; 
no  one  has  shown  how  the  networks  can  act  so  as  to 
effect  these  results,  and  I  am  quite  unable  to  say  how  they 
can  do  so.  Another  suggestion  worth  considering  is  that 
the  whale  completely  empties  the  gas  out  of  its  lungs  by 
muscular  compression  of  the  body-wall  before  diving,  so 
that  there  is  no  gas  left  in  the  body  to  be  acted  on  by  the 
increased  pressure  resulting  from  its  sinking  into  deep 
water.  I  am  unable  to  deal  with  this  puzzle  myself,  and 
I  have  not  been  able  to  find  any  naturalist  or  physiologist 
who  can  throw  light  on  the  matter. 

The  toothed  whales  are  nearer  to  the  ancestral  primi- 
tive whales  than  are  the  whalebone  whales.  The  latter 
are  the  more  peculiar,  and  specially  adapted  with  their 
huge  heads  and  mouths  (a  third  the  length  of  the 
whole  animal  in  the  Greenland  whale),  and  their  pali- 
sades of  350  whalebone  planks,  some  12  ft.  long,  on 
each  side  of  the  mouth.  I  may  mention  in  parenthesis 
that,  whilst  whalebone  has  been  largely  superseded  by 
light  steel  in  the  making  of  umbrellas  and  corsets,  its 
value  remains,  or  rather  increases,  on  account  of  its  being 
the  only  material  for  making  certain  kinds  of  large 
brushes  which  are  used  in  cleaning  machinery.  The 
whalebone  whales  have,  when  first  born,  very  minute 
teeth  hidden  in  their  jaws  ;  they  disappear.  Some  of 
the  toothed  whales  have  teeth  only  in  the  lower  jaw 
(the  cachalot),  others  (the  beaked  whales,  Ziphius,  etc.) 
have  only  one  pair  or  two  pairs  of  teeth.  These  are 
tusk-like,  and  placed  in  the  lower  jaw.  Others  (the 
dolphins  and  porpoises)  have  very  numerous  peg-like 


THE    KILLER    AND    THE    NARWHAL       385 

teeth  in  each  jaw.     Some  of  them  feed  on  fish,  pursuing 
the  shoals  of  fish  in  parties  or  "  schools." 

A  truly  terrible  toothed  whale  is  the  large  porpoise 
called  the  killer  (known  to  zoologists  as  Orca  gladiator}. 
He  is  the  wolf  of  the  sea,  far  more  active  and  formidable 
than  any  shark,  about  10  ft.  long,  and  strangely  marked  in 
black,  white,  and  yellow.  He  has  jaws  bigger  than  those 
of  the  largest  Mugger  crocodile,  and  a  tremendous  array  of 
fang-like  teeth.  These  killers  hunt  the  right  (or  whale- 
bone) whales  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  in  parties  of  three 
to  twelve.  They  hang  on  to  the  lips  of  their  enormous 
"  quarry,"  and  once  they  get  a  hold,  in  twenty  minutes  tear 
it  into  pieces.  Often  they  satisfy  themselves  with  tearing 
out  and  devouring  the  gigantic  tongue  of  their  victim, 
leaving  the  carcase  untouched. 

The  narwhal  and  the  white  whale,  or  Beluga,  which 
furnishes  "  porpoise-hide "  for  boots  and  laces,  are  both 
caught  in  northern  seas,  and  form  a  closely  allied  pair, 
similar  to  one  another  in  shape  and  colour  (the  one  white, 
the  other  grey),  and  of  moderate  size,  about  1 2  ft.  long. 
They  both  feed  on  cuttle-fish  and  minute  shrimps,  but  the 
Beluga  has  many  teeth  and  the  narwhal  (with  the  excep- 
tion of  some  rudimentary  ones)  only  a  single  pair,  and 
these  in  the  front  of  the  upper  jaw.  In  the  female 
narwhal  this  pair  of  teeth  remain  permanently  concealed 
in  the  jaw  bone,  and  so  does  the  right  side  one  of  the 
male.  But  the  left  side  tooth  of  the  male  grows  to  an 
enormous  size,  projecting  horizontally  in  front  of  the  nar- 
whal to  a  length  of  seven  or  eight  feet.  It  is  a  powerful 
weapon,  and  is  formed  of  ivory  spirally  grooved  on  the 
surface.  The  narwhal  was  called  "  the  unicorn  fish "  or 
"  Monoceras "  in  ancient  times,  and  its  spirally  marked 
tooth  was  confused  with  the  horn  of  the  terrestrial  unicorn 
—the  rhinoceros.  Very  rarely  the  right  tooth  of  the  male 
narwhal  grows  to  full  size  side  by  side  with  the  left  tooth. 

25 


386  MORE    ABOUT    WHALES 

A  specimen  showing  this  double-toothed  condition  is  in 
the  Natural  History  Museum.  A  most  curious  fact,  quite 
unexplained  as  yet,  is  that  the  spiral  grooving  on  both  the 
teeth  turns  in  the  same  direction  ;  in  both  it  is  like  a 
spiral  staircase  in  mounting  which  (starting  from  the  base 
implanted  in  the  jaw)  you  continually  turn  to  the  right. 
Now,  in  all  other  animal  structures  which  have  a  spiral 
growth  and  are  paired — one  belonging  to  the  right  side 
of  the  animal,  the  other  to  the  left,  as,  for  instance,  the 
spirally  marked  horns  of  antelopes  and  the  more  loosely 
coiled  horns  of  sheep  and  cattle — one  of  the  pair  forms  a 
right-handed  and  the  other  a  left-handed  spiral.  They 
are  "  complementary  "  ;  one  is  the  reflection,  as  in  a  mirror, 
of  the  other.  Why  the  narwhal's  tooth  does  not  conform 
to  this  rule  is  a  mystery. 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  only  a  few  whales  and 
porpoises  eat  fish  or  the  flesh  of  other  whales.  The  large 
toothed-whales,  including  the  cachalot  or  sperm  whale,  and 
also  the  Ziphius-like  beaked  whales,  live  upon  cuttle-fish. 
And  it  seems  that  they  know  where  to  hunt  for  this 
special  article  of  diet  and  how  to  find  it  in  quantity  (pro- 
bably at  great  depths  in  the  ocean),  which  naturalists  do 
not.  Many  new  kinds  of  cuttle-fish  have  been  discovered 
by  examining  the  contents  of  the  stomach  of  captured 
whales.  The  sperm  whale  feeds  on  monster  squid  and 
poulp  such  as  we  rarely,  if  ever,  see  alive  or  washed  up  on 
the  shore.  The  hide  of  these  cuttle-fish-eating  whales 
and  porpoises  is  scratched  and  scarred  by  the  hooks 
attached  to  the  suckers  on  the  arms  of  the  great  cuttle- 
fish, and  a  test  of  the  genuine  character  of  ambergris 
which  forms  as  a  concretion  in  the  intestine  of  the  sperm- 
whale  is  that  it  contains  fragments  of  the  horny  beaks  and 
hooks  of  the  cuttle-fish  digested  by  the  whale.  The  food 
of  the  whalebone  whales  consists  of  minute  Crustacea  and 
of  the  little  floating  molluscs  known  as  Clio  borealis,  as 


FOSSIL    WHALES  387 

big  as  the  last  joint  of  one's  little  finger,  which  float  by 
millions  in  the  Arctic  Ocean.  The  whalebone  whales,  after 
letting  their  huge  mouths  fill  with  the  sea-water  in  which 
these  creatures  are  floating,  squeeze  it  out  through  the 
strainer  formed  by  the  whalebone  palisade  on  each  side — 
by  raising  the  tongue  and  floor  of  the  mouth.  The  water 
passes  out  through  the  strainer,  and  the  nourishing 
morsels  remain. 

Some  fossil  jaws  and  skulls  of  whales  from  miocene 
and  older  tertiary  strata  are  known  which  tend  to  connect 
the  toothed  whales  with  those  mammals  not  modified  for 
marine  life.  But  the  approach  in  that  direction  does  not 
go  very  far.  The  extinct  whales  called  Squalodon  have 
tusk-like  front  teeth  and  molars  which  have  the  outline  of 
a  leaf  with  a  coarsely  "  serrated  "  edge.  The  bones  of  the 
face  are  also,  in  them,  more  like  those  of  an  ordinary 
mammal  than  is  the  case  with  modern  toothed  whales. 
The  snout  is  not  so  long,  and  the  bones  which  form  it  are 
a  little  more  like  those  of  a  fox's  snout  than  are  those  of 
the  dolphin's  "  beak."  But  on  the  whole  it  is  astonishing 
how  little  we  know  of  fossil  whales.  We  have  yet  to 
discover  ancestral  forms  possessing  small  hind  legs,  but 
whale-like  in  other  features.  Some  day  a  lucky  "  fossil- 
hunter  "  will  come  upon  the  remains  of  a  series  of  whale- 
ancestors  probably  of  Eocene  age,  and  we  shall  know  the 
steps  by  which  a  quadruped  was  changed  into  a  cetacean 
— just  as  we  have  recently  learned  the  history  of  the 
development  of  elephants.  We  know  even  less  about  the 
ancestry  of  bats  and  the  steps  by  which  they  acquired 
their  wings  than  we  do  about  the  history  of  whales. 
These  discoveries  await  future  generations  of  men  when 
"  cuttings"  and  "pits"  and  quarries  shall  have  been  made  in 
the  rest  of  the  earth's  surface  to  the  same  extent  as  they 
have  been  in  Europe  and  in  parts  of  the  American 
continent. 


CHAPTER    XXXI 
MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT    SCIENCE 

I  SUBMIT,  as  the  final  chapter  of  this  little  volume  of 
miscellaneous  diversions,  a  few  words  intended  to 
meet  what  has  become  a  recurrent  misrepresentation  and 
absurdity  for  which  the  annual  congress  of  the  British 
Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  furnishes  the 
opportunity.  Glib  writers  in  various  journals  regularly 
seize  this  occasion  to  pour  forth  their  lamentations  con- 
cerning the  incapacity  of  "  science  "  and  the  disappoint- 
ment which  they  experience  in  finding  that  it  does  not  do 
what  it  never  professed  to  do.  They  deplore  that  those 
engaged  in  the  making  of  that  new  knowledge  of  nature 
which  we  call  "  science  "  do  not  discover  things  which 
they  never  set  out  to  discover  or  thought  it  possible  to 
discover,  although  the  glib  gentlemen  who  write,  with  a 
false  assumption  of  knowledge,  pretend  that  these  things 
are  what  the  investigations  of  scientific  inquirers  are 
intended  to  ascertain.  We  read,  at  that  season  of  the 
year,  articles  upon  "  What  Scientists  do  not  know  "  and 
"The  Bankruptcy  of  Science,"  in  which  it  is  pretended 
that  the  purpose  of  science  is  to  solve  the  mystery,  or,  as 
it  has  been  called,  the  "  riddle,"  of  the  universe,  and  it  is 
pointed  out,  with  something  like  malicious  satisfaction, 
that,  to  judge  by  the  proceedings  of  the  congress  of 
scientific  investigators  just  concluded,  we  are  no  nearer  a 
solution  of  that  mystery  than  men  were  in  the  days  of 


WHAT    SCIENCE    DOES    NOT    EXPLAIN    389 

Aristotle :  and  it  is  added  that  false  hopes  have  been 
raised,  and  that  matters  which  were  once  considered 
settled  have  again  passed  into  the  melting-pot ! 

This  kind  of  lamentation  is  not  only  (if  I  may  use  an 
expressive  term)  "  twaddle,"  but  is  injurious  misrepresen- 
tation, dangerous  to  the  public  welfare.  The  actual 
attitude  of  the  investigators  and  makers  of  new  know- 
ledge of  nature  is  stated  in  a  few  words  which  I  wrote 
ten  years  ago:  "The  whole  order  of  nature,  including 
living  and  lifeless  matter— from  man  to  gas — is  a  network 
of  mechanism,  the  main  features  and  many  details  of 
which  have  been  made  more  or  less  obvious  to  the 
wondering  intelligence  of  mankind  by  the  labour  and 
ingenuity  of  scientific  investigators.  But  no  sane  man 
has  ever  pretended,  since  science  became  a  definite  body 
of  doctrine,  that  we  know  or  ever  can  hope  to  know  or 
conceive  of  the  possibility  of  knowing,  whence  this 
mechanism  has  come,  why  it  is  there,  whither  it  is 
going,  and  what  there  may  or  may  not  be  beyond  and 
beside  it  which  our  senses  are  incapable  of  appreciating. 
These  things  are  not  '  explained '  by  science  and  never 
can  be." 

So  much  for  those  who  reproach  science  with  the  non- 
fulfilment  of  their  own  unwarranted  and  perfectly  gratui- 
tous expectations. 

When,  however,  having  created  in  their  readers'  minds 
an  unreasonable  sense  of  failure  and  a  mistrust  of 
science,  such  writers  go  on  to  make  use  of  the  want  of 
confidence  thus  produced,  in  order  to  throw  doubt 
upon  the  real  conquests  of  science — the  new  knowledge 
actually  made  and  established  by  the  investigators  of 
the  last  century — it  becomes  necessary  to  say  a  little 
more.  The  public  is  told  by  these  false-witnesses  that 
science  has  "  dogmas/'  and  that  men  of  science  are  less 
satisfied  than  they  were  with  the  "dogmas"  of  the  last 


3QO      MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT    SCIENCE 

century.  Science  has  no  dogmas;  all  its  conclusions  are 
open  to  revision  by  experiment  and  demonstration,  and 
are  continually  so  revised.  But  science  takes  no  heed  of 
empty  assertion  unaccompanied  by  evidence  which  can 
be  weighed  and  measured.  "  Nullius  in  verba "  is  the 
motto  of  one  of  the  most  famous  Societies  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  knowledge  of  nature — the  Royal  Society  of 
London. 

It  is  especially  in  the  area  of  biology — the  knowledge 
of  living  things — that  the  enemies  of  science  make  their 
most  audacious  attempts  to  discredit  well-ascertained 
facts  and  conclusions.  They  tell  their  readers  that  those 
greater  problems  of  the  science  (as  they  erroneously 
term  them),  such  as  the  nature  of  variation  among 
individuals,  the  laws  of  heredity,  the  nature  of  growth 
and  reproduction,  the  peculiarities  of  sex,  the  charac- 
teristics of  habit,  instinct,  and  intelligence,  and  the 
meaning  of  life  itself,  have  advanced  very  little  beyond 
the  standpoint  of  the  first  and  greatest  biologist,  Aristotle. 
This  statement  is  vague  and  indefinite ;  the  conclusion 
which  it  suggests  is  absolutely  untrue.  Aristotle  knew 
next  to  nothing  about  the  mechanism  of  the  processes  in 
living  things  above  cited.  At  the  present  day  we  know 
an  enormous  amount  about  it  in  detail.  But  when 
men  of  science  are  told  that  they  do  not  know  the 
"nature"  of  this  and  the  "meaning"  of  that,  they 
frankly  admit  that  they  do  not  know  the  real  "nature" 
(for  the  expression  is  capable  of  endless  variety  of 
significance)  of  anything  nor  the  real  "  meaning  "  not 
only  of  life,  but  of  the  existence  of  the  universe,  and  they 
say,  moreover,  that  they  have  no  intention  or  expectation 
of  knowing  the  ultimate  "  nature "  or  the  ultimate 
"  meaning  "  (in  a  philosophical  sense)  of  any  such  things. 
These  are  not  problems  of  science — and  it  is  misleading 
and  injurious  to  pretend  that  they  are. 


DARWIN'S   THEORY    IS  ADEQUATE        391 

I  recently  read  an  essay  in  which  the  writer  is  good 
enough  to  say  that,  owing  to  the  work  of  Darwin,  the  fact 
that  the  differences  which  we  see  between  organisms  have 
been  reached  by  a  gradual  evolution,  is  not  now  disputed. 
That,  at  any  rate,  seems  to  be  a  solid  achievement.  But 
he  went  on  to  declare  that  when  we  inquire  by  what  method 
this  evolution  was  brought  about  biologists  can  return  no 
answer.  That  appears  to  me  to  be  a  most  extraordinary 
perversion  of  the  truth.  The  reason  why  the  gradual 
evolution  of  the  various  kinds  of  organisms  is  not  now 
disputed  is  that  Darwin  showed  the  method  by  which 
that  evolution  can  and  must  be  brought  about.  So  far 
from  "  returning  no  answer,"  Darwin  and  succeeding 
generations  of  biologists  do  return  a  very  full  answer  to 
the  question,  "  By  what  method  has  organic  evolution 
been  brought  about  ?  "  Our  misleading  writer  proceeds 
as  follows :  "  The  Darwinian  theory  of  natural  selection 
acting  on  minute  differences  is  generally  considered 
nowadays  to  be  inadequate,  but  no  alternative  theory  has 
taken  its  place."  This  is  an  entirely  erroneous  statement. 
Though  Darwin  held  that  natural  selection  acted  most 
widely  and  largely  on  minute  differences,  he  did  not 
suppose  that  its  operation  was  confined  to  them,  and  he 
considered  and  gave  importance  to  a  number  of  other 
characteristics  of  organisms  which  have  an  important  part 
in  the  process  of  organic  evolution.  The  assertion  that 
the  theory  of  natural  selection  as  left  by  Darwin  "  is  now 
generally  held  to  be  inadequate  "  is  fallacious.  Darwin's 
conclusions  on  this  matter  are  generally  held  to  be  essen- 
tially true.  It  is  obvious  that  his  argument  is  capable  of 
further  elaboration  and  development  by  additional  know- 
ledge, and  always  was  regarded  as  being  so  by  its  author 
and  by  every  other  competent  person.  But  that  is  a 
very  different  thing  from  holding  Darwin's  theory  of 
natural  selection  to  be  "  inadequate."  It  is  adequate, 


392      MISCONCEPTIONS   ABOUT    SCIENCE 

because  it  furnishes  the  foundation  on  which  we  build,  and 
it  is  so  solid,  complete  and  far-reaching  that  what  has  been 
added  since  Darwin's  death  is  very  small  by  comparison 
with  his  original  structure. 

Lastly,  we  are  told  by  the  anonymous  writer  already 
quoted  that  at  the  present  time  discussion  is  chiefly  con- 
centrated on  the  question  as  to  whether  life  is  dependent 
only  on  the  physical  and  chemical  properties  of  the  living 
substance,   protoplasm,   or  whether  there  is  at  work  an 
independent  vital  principle  which  sharply  separates  living 
from  non-living  matter !     And  the  obvious  and  common- 
place conclusion  is  announced  that  "  the  ultimate  problems 
of  biology  are   as    inscrutable  as  of  old."     All  ultimate 
problems  are,  I  admit,  inscrutable.     It  is,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  business,  and  has  been  the  glory  and  triumph 
of  science,   to   examine   and    solve   problems  which  are 
scrutable  !     It  is  certainly  not  the  case  that,  at  the  present 
time,  discussion  is  concentrated  on  the  question  of  the 
existence  of  a  vital  principle.     There  is  absolutely  no  dis- 
cussion in  progress  on  the  subject.     No  one  even  knows 
or  attempts  to  state  what  is  meant  by  "  a  vital  principle." 
It  is  a  phrase  which  belongs  to  "the  dead  past,"  when 
men  of  science  had  not  discovered  that  you  get  no  nearer 
to  understanding  a  difficult  subject  by  inventing  a  name 
to  cover  your  ignorance.     Thirty-five  years  ago  the  word 
"  vitality  "  was  used  as  some  few  philosophising  writers 
are  now  using  the  term  "  vital  principle."    Huxley  at  that 
time  attacked  the  views  of  Dr.  Lionel  Beale,  who  called 
in  the  aid  of  a  mystical  "  principle,"  which  he  named 
"  vitality,"  in  order  to  "  account  for  "  some  of  the  remark- 
able properties  of  protoplasm.     As  Huxley  pointed  out, 
this  supposed  principle  "  accounted  for  "  nothing,  since  it 
was  merely  a  name  for  the  phenomena  for  which  it  was 
supposed   to    account.     Huxley  pointed    out  that   many 
chemical   compounds    have    remarkable    properties  —  as 


THE    AQUOSITY    OF    WATER  393 

assuredly  have  the  chemical  compounds  which  are  present 
in  protoplasm — but  men  of  science  have  not  found  it  to 
help  them  in  investigating  the  mechanism  of  those  pro- 
perties to  ascribe  them  to  mystical  intangible  "principles" 
differing  from  the  agencies  at  work  in  other  less  excep- 
tional substances. 

Thus,  for  instance,  water,  though  a  very  common  and 
abundant  chemical  compound  formed  by  the  union  of  two 
chemical  elements,  hydrogen  and  oxygen,  which,  at  the 
temperature  and  pressure  of  the  earth's  surface,  are 
gaseous,  offers  many  strange  properties  to  our  considera- 
tion not  shared  by  other  compounds  of  gaseous  elements. 
For  instance,  hydrogen,  when  it  combines  with  gaseous 
elements  other  than  oxygen,  does  not  form  a  compound 
which  is  liquid  at  the  temperature  and  pressure  of  the  earth's 
surface.  Its  combinations  with  nitrogen,  with  chlorine, 
with  fluorine,  and  even  with  the  solid  element  carbon,  are 
under  those  conditions  gaseous.  What  a  special  character, 
therefore,  has  water  !  Moreover,  water,  though  a  liquid, 
yet  behaves  in  a  most  peculiar  way  when  either  cooled 
below  ordinary  temperatures  or  heated  above  them.  It 
becomes  solid  when  cooled,  but  expands  at  the  same  time, 
so  that  it  is  less  dense  when  solid  that  when  liquid — a 
most  unusual  proceeding  !  And  when  heated  it  is  con- 
verted into  vapour,  but  with  a  loss  or  "  making  latent  "  of 
heat,  which,  like  its  behaviour  when  solidifying,  indicates 
that  water  is  endowed  with  a  very  peculiar  structure  or 
mechanism  in  the  putting  together  of  its  molecules.  We 
might  call  these  combined  peculiarities  of  water 
"aquosity,"  and  as  we  certainly  cannot  say  why  water 
should  possess  the  lot  of  them,  whilst  other  compounds  of 
cither  hydrogen  or  of  oxygen,  or,  in  fact,  of  any  other 
elements,  do  not  possess  this  combination,  we  might  say 
that  their  presence  is  due  to  "  the  aqueous  principle/'  or 
"  aquosity,"  which  enters  into  water  when  it  is  formed, 


394      MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT    SCIENCE 

but  does  not  exist  in  other  natural  bodies,  and,  indeed, 
"  sharply  separates  aqueous  from  non-aqueous  matter." 

Happily,  though  such  a  view  would  have  been  con- 
sidered high  philosophy  200  years  ago,  no  one  is  deluded 
at  the  present  day  into  the  belief  that  by  calling  the 
remarkable  properties  of  water  "aquosity"  you  have 
added  anything  to  our  knowledge  of  them.  Yet  those  who 
invoke  "a  vital  principle"  or  "vitality"  in  connection  with 
protoplasm  should,  if  they  were  consistent,  apply  their 
method  to  the  mystery  of  water.  Let  us  see  how  it  would 
run.  Though  we  may  (these  "  vitalists"  or  "aquosists" 
would  say)  experiment  with  water,  determine  exactly  the 
temperature  and  pressure  at  which  these  remarkable  phe- 
nomena are  exhibited,  though  we  may  determine  its 
surface  tension  and  its  crystalline  form,  and  even  though 
we  may  weigh  exactly  the  proportion  of  hydrogen  to 
oxygen  in  its  composition,  yet  when  we  look  at  a  drop  of 
water,  there  it  is,  a  wonder  of  wonders,  endowed  with 
"  aquosity,"  the  ultimate  nature  of  which  is  as  inscrutable 
now  as  it  was  to  Aristotle  !  It  is  perfectly  true  (we  con- 
cede to  the  "  aquosists  ")  that  the  properties  of  water  are 
not  accounted  for  by  science ;  that  is  to  say  that,  though 
we  can  imagine  the  molecular  and  atomic  mechanism 
necessary  for  their  exhibition,  we  cannot  offer  any  sugges- 
tion as  to  how  it  is  that  that  particular  mechanism  is 
present  in  the  chemical  compound  which  the  chemist 
denotes  as  H2O,  and  is  not  present  in  other  compounds, 
still  less  can  we  say  "why  "  these  remarkable  properties 
are  present — that  is  to  say,  for  what  purpose,  although  we 
know  that  if  they  were  not  present  the  whole  history  and 
economy  of  our  globe  would  be  utterly  different  from  what 
it  is.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  their  ignorance  about  the 
real  nature  of  water,  men  of  science  do  not  invent  an 
"  aqueous  principle  "  or  "  aquosity  "  with  the  notion  of 
"  explaining  "  water.  And  I  have  yet  to  hear  of  any  duly 


NEED   FOR    INTERPRETERS   OF    SCIENCE    395 

trained  and  qualified  biologist  who  is  prepared  at  the 
present  moment  to  maintain  the  existence  of  a  "vital 
principle,"  or  of  a  force  to  be  called  "  vitality,"  supposed  to 
be  something  different  in  character  and  quality  from  the 
recognised  physical  forces,  and  having  its  existence  along- 
side, yet  apart  from,  the  manifestations  of  those  forces. 

Lord  Justice  Fletcher  Moulton  recently  said:  "The 
advance  in  science  takes  the  workers  in  science  more  and 
more  beyond  the  ken  of  the  ordinary  public,  and  their 
work  grows  to  be  a  little  understood  and  much  misunder- 
stood ;  and  I  have  felt  that,  as  in  many  other  cases,  the 
need  would  come  for  interpreters  between  those  who  are 
carrying  on  scientific  research  and  the  public,  in  order  to 
explain  and  justify  their  work."  Probably  everyone  will 
agree  with  the  Lord  Justice  :  but  what  are  we  to  say  of 
those  responsible  owners  of  great  journals  who  not  only 
abstain  from  providing  such  interpretation  but  allow 
anonymous  and  incompetent  writers  to  mislead  the  public? 
Is  the  literary  critic  of  a  prosperous  journal  employed  to 
write  the  City  article  ? 

There  has  been  a  repetition  this  year  (1912)  of  the  usual 
misrepresentation  on  the  occasion  of  the  meeting  of  the 
lUitish  Association.  The  President,  Professor  Schafer, 
had  let  it  be  known  that  his  address  would  be  concerned 
with  the  chemistry  of  living  processes,  the  gradual  passage 
of  chemical  combinations  into  the  condition  which  we 
call  "  living,"  and  the  possibility  of  bringing  about  this 
passage  in  the  chemical  laboratory  without  the  use  of 
materials  already  elaborated  by  previously  existing  "living" 
material.  The  announcement  was  immediately  made  in 
some  "newspapers"  that  "startling  revelations"  were  to  be 
made  by  the  President,  that  he  was  "  to  throw  a  bomb- 
shell "  into  the  camp,  etc.  He  did  nothing  of  the  kind. 
He  gave  an  admirable  and  clear  statement  of  the  progress 
during  recent  years  towards  the  realisation  of  the  con- 


396      MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT    SCIENCE 

struction  in  the  laboratory  by  chemical  methods  of  the 
complex  chemical  combination  which  exhibits  those 
"  activities  " — essentially  movements,  unions,  disruptions 
and  re-unions  of  extremely  minute  particles — which  we 
call  "  living."  The  conclusion  that  such  a  gradual  building 
up  has  taken  place  in  past  ages  of  the  history  of  our  earth 
was  formulated  more  than  forty  years  ago  by  Spencer, 
Tyndall,  Huxley,  Haeckel,  and  others,  and  has  not  been 
seriously  attacked  in  the  interval,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
generally  accepted  as  a  legitimate  inference  from  the  facts 
ascertained  and  the  theory  of  the  evolution  or  gradual 
development  of  what  we  call  the  material  universe. 

Professor  Schafer  expressed  the  opinion,  anticipated  and 
shared  by  many  other  investigators,  that  the  progress  of 
chemical  experiment  renders  it  probable  that  further  steps, 
culminating  in  the  successful  construction  of  "  living  " 
matter  in  the  laboratory,  are  not  beset  by  any  insurmount- 
able obstacles  and  will  sooner  or  later  be  accomplished. 
There  was  no  "  bomb-shell "  in  this  statement,  and  no  ex- 
citement as  its  result  among  scientific  workers  nor  amongst 
those  who  do  not  neglect  to  study  the  writings  of  the 
"  interpreters  "  desired  by  Lord  Justice  Moulton.  There 
are  still  some  such  interpreters  carrying  on  the  work  of 
Huxley  and  of  Tyndall,  those  great  interpreters  whose 
writings  should  be  studied  and  treasured  as  classics. 

The  most  interesting  result  of  the  attempt  to  treat  the 
discussions  at  Dundee  as  a  newspaper  "sensation,"  com- 
parable to  the  reports  relating  to  motor-car  bandits  or 
the  pronouncements  of  political  factions,  has  been  its  com- 
plete failure.  Serious  thinkers  of  all  schools  seem  to  have 
adjusted  themselves  to  the  more  modern  way  of  regarding 
natural  processes  even  when  these  relate  to  matters  of 
such  age-long  interest  to  mankind  as  the  inception  of 
"  living "  organisms  and  of  conscious  humanity  itself. 
There  are  fewer  now  than  there  were  forty  years  ago  who 


THE   EXPLODED  GHOST  GALLED  CALORIC   397 

insist  on  the  older  barbaric  "  explanations "  of  these 
marvels.  Few  indeed  venture  to  assert  the  existence  of 
"spirits" — ghostly  essences  of  various  grades  and  capacities 
which  enter  the  bodies  of  living  things  and  escape  from 
them  like  so  much  gas  when  they  die."*  The  vegetable 
soul,  the  animal  soul  and  the  human  soul  are  no  longer 
imagined  and  described  to  us  as  definite  "things"  sup- 
posed to  "  explain "  the  complex  processes  which  go 
on  respectively  in  plants,  animals  and  men. 

Seventy  years  ago  the  facts  which  were  known  as  to  that 
changing  state  of  material  substances  which  we  describe  by 
the  words  "hot"  and  "cold,"  were  held  to  be  "explained" 
by  the  existence  of  a  ghostly  thing  called  "caloric,"  which 
was   believed   to   enter  various    bodies   and  make   them 
hot  and  then  to  escape   from  them  and   so  make  them 
cold.     Primitive  man  multiplied  such  ways  of  explaining 
each  and  every  process  going  on  in  the  world  around  him 
and  in   himself.      Mere  words  or  names  lost  their  first 
simple  signification  and  acquired  permanent  association 
with  imaginary  spirits,  demons,  and  haunting  intangible 
ghosts,  by  reference  to  which  our  ancestors  in  their  earliest 
"  reasoning "    explained   to    their   own    satisfaction    the 
strange  and  sudden  events  fraught  to  them  with  the  daily 
experience  of  pain  or  pleasure.    The  whole  world  was  held 
by  them  to  be  "  bewitched,"  and  it  w-as  only  by  slow  and 
painful  steps  that  some  knowledge  of  the  persistent  order 
of  Nature  was  obtained,  whilst  the  phantastic  imagery 
which  had   served  in   its  place,    bit  by  bit  disappeared. 
"  Caloric  "  was  a  late  lingerer,  and  was  only  got  rid  of 

*  This  subject  is  discussed  and  some  account  of  the  chemical  nature  of 
protoplasm  given  in  my  book,  '  Science  from  an  Easy  Chair '  (Methuen, 
1910),  which  consists  of  a  first  series  of  papers  similar  to  those  which  are 
collected  in  the  present  volume  as  a  "  Second  Series."  The  chapters  in 
the  earlier  volume  to  which  I  wish  to  direct  the  reader's  attention  are  those 
entitled  "  The  Universal  Structure  of  Living  Things,"  "  Protoplasm,  Life 
and  Death,"  "Chemistry  and  Protoplasm,"  "The  Simplest  Living  Things." 


3g8       MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT    SCIENCE 

when  what  had  been  so  called  was  shown  to  be  a  vibration 
of  particles — a  mode  or  kind  of  motion — a  "  state/'  and 
not  a  mysterious  fluid  existing  as  a  thing  in  itself. 

Just  as  "  caloric  "  no  longer  serves  and  is  no  longer 
possible  as  the  supposed  "  explanation  "  of  the  behaviour 
of  bodies  in  the  hot  or  the  cold  state,  so  we  no  longer 
require  the  supposition  of"  spirits  "  of  one  kind  or  another 
as  "  explanations  "  of  the  living  state  of  those  products  of 
our  mother  earth  which  are  called  plants,  animals  and 
men.  In  neither  case  do  such  "  spirits  "  really  "  explain  " 
the  state  in  question  ;  they  are  only  names  for  the  activity 
which  it  was  imagined  that  they  served  to  explain.  These 
states  or  affections  of  matter  remain  as  wonderful  and 
important  to  us  as  they  were  before.  But  by  giving  up  the 
prehistoric  notions  about  them  which  have  been  handed 
on  until  the  present  day  we  can  think  of  them  in  a  more 
satisfactory  way — a  way  which  avoids  the  multiplication 
of  unnecessary  imaginary  agencies  and  the  conception  of 
an  intermittent  and  hesitating  Creative  Power,  and  substi- 
tutes for  it  the  operation  of  continuous  orderly  and  pre- 
ordained forces. 

It  is  true  that  we  can  neither  ascertain  nor  imagine 
either  the  beginning  or  the  end  of  the  orderly  process 
which  we  discover  in  operation  to-day.  We  can  trace  it 
back  by  well-established  inference  into  a  remote  past,  but 
a  beginning  of  it  is  not  within  the  possibilities  of  human 
thought.  We  can,  with  reasonable  probability  of  being 
correct,  foretell  the  changes  and  developments  which  time 
will  bring  in  many  combinations  and  dispositions  which 
are  the  manifestations  of  that  process  at  this  moment  of 
time,  but  we  can  not  even  think  of  a  cessation  of  that 
process. 

Should  we  ask,  "  Why  does  this  process  exist  ?  "  there 
is  no  answer.  Nature  does  not  reply ;  an  awful  silence 
meets  our  inquiry.  The  reproach  is  often  urged  against 


NIGHTMARES    DESTROYED    BY    SCIENCE   399 

science — the  knowledge  of  the  order  of  nature— that  it 
does  not  tell  us  "why  we  are  here."  Man  inevitably 
desires  to  know  why  he  is  here  ;  but  "  science,"  as  that 
word  is  now  understood,  does  not  profess  or  even  seek  to 
answer  that  question,  although  the  false  hope  has  been 
raised  in  ignorant  minds,  sometimes  by  knavery,  sometimes 
by  honest  delusion,  that  it  could  do  so.  By  knowledge  of 
nature  mankind  can  escape  much  suffering  and  gain  the 
highest  happiness,  but  that  is  all  that  we  can  hope  for 
from  it.  We  shall  never  satisfy  our  curiosity ;  we  shall 
never  know  in  the  same  way  as  we  know  the  order  of 
nature,  why — to  what  end,  for  what  purpose — that  order 
and  not  another  order  exists. 

It  is  very  generally  supposed  that  it  is  the  business  and 
profession  of  science  "  to  explain  "  things — that  is  to  say, 
to  show  how  this  or  that  must  and  does  come  about  in 
consequence  of  the  operation  of  the  great  general  pro- 
perties of  matter,  known  as  the  "laws"  of  chemistry  and 
physics.  This  is  true  enough,  but  it  is  equally  the  work 
of  science  to  assert  that  of  many  things  for  which  mankind 
demands  "  an  explanation,"  there  is  no  explanation.  It 
is  further  the  work  and  the  service  of  science  to  destroy 
and  to  remove  from  men's  minds  the  baseless  and  pre- 
tended "  explanations  "  which  are  no  explanations  but 
causes  of  error,  blindness,  and  suffering. 

Science,  the  destroyer  of  "  explanations,"  is  the  purifier 
of  the  human  mind,  its  cleanser  from  the  crippling  infec- 
tion of  prehistoric  error  and  from  domination  by  the 
terrifying  nightmares  of  our  half-animal  ancestry. 

Finally,  in  reference  to  the  very  ancient  attempt  to 
"  explain  "  life  and  consciousness  by  the  assertion  that 
they  are  due  to  "  spirits "  which  enter  the  bodies  of 
animals  and  men,  I  must  caution  the  reader  against 
supposing  that — for  those  who  do  not  accept  the  belief 
that  such  spirits  exist — the  gravity  and  mystery  of  the 


4oo       MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT    SCIENCE 

manifestations  of  life  and  consciousness  are  in  any  way 
lessened.  Those  who  reject  the  belief  in  "  spirits  "  do 
not  in  consequence  reject  the  ethical  and  moral  doctrines 
which  have  too  long  been  rendered  "  suspect "  by  the 
shadow  cast  over  them  by  ancient  superstition.  The 
disappearance  of  that  shadow  will  reveal  friends  where 
enemies  were  supposed  to  be  entrenched. 

At  the  meeting  of  the  British  Association  in  1879  I 
delivered  an  address  on  "  Degeneration :  a  Chapter  in 
Darwinism."  In  the  printed  version  of  that  address, 
published  in  the  same  year,  there  are  some  statements 
bearing  on  the  matter  above  discussed  which  I  reproduce 
here,  since  I  can  still  make  them  with  conviction. 

"Assuredly  it  cannot  lower  our  conception  of  man's 
dignity  if  we  have  to  regard  him  as  '  the  flower  of  all  the 
ages  '  bursting  from  the  great  stream  of  life  which  has 
flowed  on  through  countless  epochs  with  one  increasing 
purpose,  rather  than  as  an  isolated  miraculous  being,  put 
together  abnormally  from  elemental  clay,  and  cut  off  by 
such  portentous  origin  from  his  fellow  animals  and  from 
that  gracious  nature  to  whom  he  yearns  with  filial  instinct, 
knowing  her,  in  spite  of  fables,  to  be  his  dear  mother." 

"  A  certain  number  of  thoughtful  persons  admit  the 
development  of  man's  body  by  natural  processes  from  ape- 
like ancestry,  but  believe  in  the  non-natural  intervention 
of  a  Creator  at  a  certain  definite  stage  in  that  develop- 
ment, in  order  to  introduce  into  the  animal  which  was  at 
that  moment  a  man-like  ape,  something  called  '  a  con- 
scious soul '  in  virtue  of  which  he  became  an  ape-like  man." 

"  No  one  ventures  to  deny,  at  the  present  day,  that  every 
human  being  grows  from  the  egg  in  utero,  just  as  a  dog  or 
a  monkey  does  ;  the  facts  are  before  us  and  can  be  scruti- 
nised in  detail.  We  may  ask  of  those  who  refuse  to  admit 
the  gradual  and  natural  development  of  man's  conscious- 
ness in  the  ancestral  series,  passing  from  ape-like  forms 


WHEN    DID    THE    SOUL    ARRIVE?         401 

into  indubitable  man,  *  How  do  you  propose  to  divide  the 
series  presented  by  every  individual  man  in  his  growth 
from  the  egg  ?     At  what  particular  phase  in  the  embryonic 
series  is  the  soul  with  its  consciousness  implanted  ?     Is  it 
in  the  egg  ?   in  the  foetus  of  this  month  or  that  ?   in  the 
new-born  infant  ?  or  at  five  years  of  age  ?  '     This,   it  is 
notorious,  is  a  point  upon  which  churches  have  never  been 
able  to  agree ;  and  it  is   equally  notorious  that  the  un- 
broken series  exists — that  the  egg  becomes  the  foetus,  the 
foetus  the  .child,  and  the  child  the  man.     On  the  other 
hand  we  have  the  historical  series — the  series,  the  exist- 
ence of  which  is  inferred  by  Darwin  and  his  adherents. 
This  is  a  series  leading  from  simple  egg-like  organisms  to 
ape-like  creatures,  and  from  these  to  man.     Will  those  who 
cannot  answer  our  previous  inquiries  undertake  to  assert 
dogmatically  in  the  present  case  at  what  point   in  the 
historical  series  there  is  a  break  or  division  ?     At  what 
step  are  we  to  be  asked  to  suppose   that  the  order  of 
nature  was  stopped,  and  a  non-natural  soul  introduced  ? 
.     .     .     The  theologian  is  content  in  the  case  of  individual 
development  of  the  egg  to  admit   the  fact  of  individual 
evolution,  and  to  make  assumptions  which  lie  altogether 
outside  the  region  of  scientific  inquiry.     So,  too,  it  would 
seem  only  reasonable  that  he  should  deal  with  the  histori- 
cal series,  and  frankly  accept  the  natural  evolution  of  man 
from  lower  animals,  declaring  dogmatically,  if  he  so  please, 
but  not  as  an  inference   of  the  same  order  as  are  the 
inferences   of  science,   that   something    called   the   soul 
arrived  at  any  point  in  the  series  which  he  may  think  suit- 
able.    At  the  same  time,  it  would  appear  to  be  sufficient 
even  for  the  purposes  of  the  theologian,  to  hold  that  what- 
ever the  two  above-mentioned  series  of  living  thing  contain 
or  imply,  they  do  so  as  the  result  of  a  natural  and  uniform 
process  of  development,  that  there  has  been  one  '  miracle  ' 
once  and  for  all  time.     .     .     . 


402       MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT    SCIENCE 

"  The  difficulties  which  the  theologian  has  to  meet  when 
he  is  called  upon  to  give  some  account  of  the  origin  and 
nature  of  the  soul  certainly  cannot  be  said  to  have  been 
increased  by  the  establishment  of  the  Darwinian  theory. 
For  from  the  earliest  days  of  the  Church,  ingenious  specu- 
lation has  been  lavished  on  the  subject. 

"  St.  Augustine  says  (I  give  a  translation  of  the  Latin 
original)  :  *  With  regard  to  the  four  following  opinions 
concerning  the  soul — viz.  (i)  whether  souls  are  handed  on 
from  parent  to  child  by  propagation  ;  or  (2)  are  suddenly 
created  in  individuals  at  birth  ;  or  (3)  existing  already 
elsewhere  are  divinely  sent  into  the  bodies  of  the  new- 
born ;  or  (4)  slip  into  them  of  their  own  motion — it  is  un- 
desirable for  anyone  to  make  a  rash  pronouncement,  since 
up  to  the  present  time  the  question  has  never  been  dis- 
cussed and  decided  by  catholic  writers  of  holy  books  on 
account  of  its  obscurity  and  perplexity — or,  if  it  has  been 
dealt  with,  no  such  treatises  have  hitherto  come  into  my 
hands.'  " 

There  must  be  many  who  will  be  glad  to  shake  off  the 
illusion  of  explanation  which  is  no  explanation,  and  to 
escape  from  the  futile  discussion  of  the  possible  behaviour 
of  spirits  and  ghosts  born  in  the  dreams  of  primaeval 
savages.  They  will  gladly  accept  the  conclusion  that  the 
marvellous  qualities  and  activities  of  living  things  and 
that  inscrutable  wonder,  the  mind  of  man,  are  outcomes 
of  the  orderly  process  of  Nature  no  less  than  are  the 
miracles  which  we  call  a  buttercup,  a  rock  crystal,  a 
glacier,  the  noon-day  sun  !  We  can  trace,  by  observation 
and  inference,  the  orderly  growth  and  development  of 
these  things  from  simpler  things ;  we  can  discover  con- 
tinuity and  common  properties  determining  their  diverse 
existence.  But  we  find  no  explanation  of  them;  we  cannot 
account  for  the  properties  of  matter  which  determine 
them,  nor  for  the  existence  of  anything — whether  it  be  a 


THE    GREAT    SILENCE  403 

drop  of  water,  or  human  thought  and  consciousness. 
There  are  no  special  and  exceptional  "  incomprehen- 
sibles  "  requiring  us  to  assume  that  special  "  principles  " 
or  "  spirits  "  are  concerned  with  them  whilst  the  rest  are 
to  be  accounted  for  and  explained  in  a  more  general  way. 
Wherever  we  push  our  inquiries  we  come  equally  and 
inevitably,  as  did  primaeval  man,  to  that  of  which  there  is 
no  explanation — the  perpetual  miracle,  the  miracle  of  the 
nature  of  things,  of  existence  itself.  The  man  of  science 
bows  his  head  in  the  presence  of  this  all-pervading  mystery. 
He  is  called  arrogant  by  those  who  arrogate  to  themselves 
the  right  to  "  explain  "  things  and  to  deal  in  vital  spirits 
and  metaphysical  nostrums  for  that  purpose.  From  time 
to  time  they  fill  with  their  proclamations  the  great  silence 
which  he  has  learnt  to  accept  with  reverence  and  humility. 
As  the  years  roll  on  their  hollow  phrases  are  less  frequent, 
and  acquire  the  pathetic  interest  which  belongs  to  all 
such  decaying  remnants  of  the  thought  and  effort  of  the 
childhood  of  man. 

It  seems  still  to  be  necessary  to  insist  that  it  is  not 
reasonable  to  assume  as  an  indisputable  fact  that  man 
can  arrive  at  an  "  explanation  "  of  existence  and  the 
nature  of  things.  This  assumption  has  been  made  in  the 
past,  and,  by  a  well-known  trick  of  advocacy,  it  has  been 
argued  that  since  science  fails  to  "explain"  these  things, 
the  old  prehistoric  fancies  as  to  spirits — even  though 
they  "  explain "  nothing  and  have  themselves  to  be 
"  explained  "  — hold  the  field  and  must  be  accepted  as  true. 
There  is  an  alternative,  and  that  is  to  admit  our  ignorance. 
No  man  has  ever  seen  or  knows  what  is  on  the  other  side 
of  the  moon,  that  which  does  not  face  our  earth.  There 
are  few  amongst  us  who,  in  this  admitted  and  complete 
state  of  ignorance,  would  persist  in  declaring  that  we 
must  accept  as  true  the  suppositions  of  ancient  races  of 
men  as  to  the  existence  there  of  men-like  creatures,  or 


4°4 


MISCONCEPTIONS    ABOUT  SCIENCE 


would  be  deluded  by  the  argument  that  since  we  do  not 
know  what  is  there  the  suppositions  in  question  must  be 
accepted  as  true.  We  cannot,  as  a  matter  of  observation, 
assert  that  these  supposed  beings  are  not  there,  but  we 
can  find  no  reason  to  make  it  appear  even  probable,  nor 
any  means  of  proving  by  experiment,  that  they  are.  We 
refuse  to  entertain  such  suppositions. 


THE    END. 


INDEX 


Acrobats,  female  Cretan,  253 
Agglutination  test  for  typhoid  fever, 

354 

Ague  and  gnats,  332 

Airy,  Sir  George,  and  the  Shah,  265 

Akkas,  a  pygmy  race,  235 

Alexins,  353 

Alpenrose,  16 

Alpine  flowers,  17,  19 
grass,  20 

Altamira  cavern,  paintings  of  the, 247 

Alternation  of  generations  in  jelly- 
fish, tape -worms,  sea- 
squirts,  and  ferns,  226 

Ambergris,  94,  191,  274 

Amethyst,  origin  of  the  name,  95 

Ancestral  mammals,  136,  137 

Andaman  Islanders,  230 

Angel  of  death,  the,  331 

Animals  exterminated  by  man,  367 

Antelopes,  large  and  small  species 
of,  239 

Anthropological  garden,  234 

Antitoxins,  348 

the  theory  of  their  formation,  352 

April  fish,  268 

Aquosity,  394 

Aristotle,  86 

and    the    mechanisms    of    living 

things,  390 
on  sexes  of  plants,  102 

Aristotle's  notions  on  reproduction, 
226 

Arunta  tribes  of  Australia,  their 
theory  of  conception,  229 

Ascidian,  anatomy  of  (figure),  278 
gill  slits  of,  285 

tadpole  brain  and  eyeof  (figure), 287 
tadpole   fixing  itself   by  its    head 
(figure),  288 


Ascidians,  gem-like  colours  of,  298 
glass-like,  296,  302 
or  sea-squirts    or   tunicates,    277 

et  seq. 

phosphorescent,  299 
various   composite  or   compound 

kinds,  296 
Assizes,  black,  330 
Augustus  Caesar  and  the  calendar, 

262 

Aurignacian  statuettes,  255 
Australians,  their  views  on  spiritual 
conception,  228 

Bacteria  as  causes  of  disease,  339 

Baking  instead  of  roasting,  176 

Barnacle  fixes  itself  by  its  head,  as 
does  Ascidian  tadpole,  295 
history  of  the,  293 

Bataillon,  his  discovery  of  artificial 
parthenogenesis,  213 

Bate,  Miss  Dorothea,  discovers  a 
strange  extinct  beast,  149 

Baveno,  23 

Bayeux  tapestry,  horse  from,  57 

Beaver,  when  exterminated  in  Bri- 
tain, 367 

Bees  taken  to  New  Zealand  to  ferti- 
lise clover,  363 
fertilise  sage,  4 

Beluga,  or  white  whale,  385 

Bestiaries,  87 

Bezoar-stone,  94 

Birds  of  New  Zealand,  such  as  the 
Moa  or  Dinornis,  Kiwi  or 
Apteryx,  Takahe  or  Notor- 
nis,  Kakapo  or  Stringops, 
Huia  or  long-billed  crow, 
Kea  or  sheep-killing  parrot, 
359 

26 


406 


INDEX 


Biscay  whale,  the,  376 
Bison    very  nearly  extinct  both    in 
America  and  Europe,  367, 

373 
Blood,  the  wonderful  properties  of, 

351 

Blood-parasites,  340 

Blood-red  worm  of  the  Thames 
mud-banks,  368 

Bode,  Dr.,  and  the  Bond  Street  bust, 
272 

Boldini,  modern  painter,  similarity 
of  his  drawing  to  that  of 
prehistoric  Cretans,  250 

Borromeo  isles,  23 

Botryllus,  297 
figure  of,  281 

British  Museum  Act  of  1753,  318 

Browne,  Sir  Thomas,  on  the  breed- 
ing of  animals  from  rotten 
wood,  223 

Budding,  reproduction  by,  222 

Buns,  hot  cross,  268 

Burbot,  3 

Butler,  Mr.  Samuel,  on  the  larger 
mammalia,  1 19 

Cachalot,  cruise  of  the,  273 
Cagots,  an  accursed  race  in  France, 

242 

Cagul,  caverns  of,  248 
Calendar,  the,  257 
the  Chinese,  264 

Caloric,  an  exploded  explanation,  398 
Caprifigs,  103 
Carnivorous  animals  and  their  teeth, 

161 

Carriers  of  disease,  339 
Carthage,   coin  from,    showing  ele- 
phant, 121 
Carvings  and  pictures  by  cave-men, 

.245 

Catalonia,  rock  drawings  in,  248 
Caverns,  decorated  prehistoric,  246 
Cetyl,  present  in  the  fat  of  the  sperm- 
whale's  head,  274 

Chemotaxis,  as  guiding  the  sperma- 
tozoa of  ferns,  109 
Childhood  of  man,  the,  403 
Chimpanzee  and  typhus  fever,  336 

its  laughter,  207 

Chinese  pictureof  gallopinghorse,  59 
Cholera  carriers,  343 


Christmas  Island,  ravaged   by  phos- 
phate merchants,  369 
Cinematograph  described,  53 
Clavelina,  296 
Cleanliness,  need  for,  345 
Clock,  pendulum  of,  how  seen,  67 
Clover,  Dutch,  a  false  shamrock,  271 

not    successfully    introduced    into 
New    Zealand    until    bees 
were  also  introduced,  363 
Colour  of  flowers  due  to  insects,  118 

of  ice  and  of  liquid  oxygen,  47 
Combination  of   instantaneous   pic- 
tures, 70 
Conception  by  intervention  of  spirits, 

228 

Congo  pygmies,  230 
Contortions  of  rock-strata,  8,  9 
Convention  in  art,  84 
Cookery,  sham  French,  179 

neglected  by  English  women,  181 

wholesale,  177 
Cooking  and  food,  165,   170 
Correlation,  small  size  as  an  instance 

of,  243 

Crapaudina  (toad-stone),  91 
Crayfish,  stone  in,  93 
Cretan  female  acrobats,  253 
Crete,  ancient  frescoes  from,  250 
Cycad,  106,  114 

Darwin's  theory,  391 

Date-palm,  fertilisation  of,  103 

Degeneration — a    chapter    in    Dar- 
winism, 400 
and  simplification,  293 
not  a  true  retrogression,  306 

Dents  du  Midi,  16,  22 

Derby,  Epsom  (figure),  57 

Deserts  made  by  man,  370 

Diarrhoea  of  infants  carried  by  house- 
flies,  344,  345 

Diet,    vegetarian,    carnivorous    and 
mixed,  163 

Disease,  carriers  of,  339 

Dog,  galloping  (figure),  57 

Easter  eggs,  268 
Eastertide,  267 
Eastra  and  Pascha,  267 
Echites,  the  viper  stone,  93 
Edelweiss,  5,6 

Egg-pits  on  fern's  prothallus  (figures), 
104,  105 


INDEX 


407 


glacier,  1 I,  16 
Eismeer,  1 1 

Elephant,  African,  north  of  the 
Sahara,  249 

African  (figure),  121 

Indian  (figure),  120 
Elephants  (chapter),  119 

ancestors  of,  143-147 

dig  with  their  tusks,  131 

ears  of,  125 

food  consumed  by,  123 

foot  qf,  128 

in  menageries  in  ancient  times,  127 

in  war,  134 

intelligence  of,  133 

legs  of,  1 29 

Mr.  Rudyard  Kipling  on,  130 

of  Julius  C.'t'sar,  128 

Shakespeare  on  the  legs  of,  130 

sixe  of,  123 

teeth  of,  126,  141 

Topsell  on,  130 

trunk  of,  132 

tusks  of,  124 

weight  of,  123 

Elk,  approaching  extinction,  367 
Emin  Pasha,  elephant  tusks  of,  125 
Equinox  and  solstice,  260 
Evans,  Sir  Arthur,  his  discoveries  in 

Crete,  250 
Existence  is  the   perpetual  miracle, 

403 

Explained,  things,  and  things  not 
explained  by  science,  388 

Explanation  of  existence  and  the 
nature  of  things  not  pos- 
sible, 403 

Explanations,  barbaric,   of   life  and 

consciousness,  397 
pretended,   destroyed  by  science, 

399 
which  are  no  explanations,  399 

Fatherless  frogs,  213 

Fern,  a  sexless  spore-bearer,  106 

spore,  germination  of,  99 
Ferns  as  big  as  trees,  117 

of  the  coal-measures,  1 1 7 

the  ancestors  of  flowers,  107 

which  produce  seed,  117 
Fern-seed,  96 

how  to  gather,  98 

tradition  as  to,  97 


Fertilisation  by  the  wind,  228 

of  clover  by  bees,  363 

of  ferns,  106 

of  frogs'  egg,  213,  214 

of  sage,  4 

Figs  and  capri-figs,   103 
Flavours  of  grouse,  canvas-backed 
duck,     whales,     flounders, 
eels,  mutton  and  beef,  190 
Flies,  house-,  danger  and  diminution 

of,  332,  344,  345 
Flower,  diagram  of,  1 1 1 
Flowering  fern  (Osmunda),  no 
Flowering    plant   and    fertilisation, 

116 

Food  and  habit,  173 
Forests,    injury   caused  by    cutting 

them  down,  370 
Frames,  picture,  327 
Frogs,  tadpole  (figures),  291 

Gallop,  flying  (figures  of),  57 

Galloping  horse,  52 

Gaol  fever,  330 

Generations  of  fern,  alternate  sexual 

and  sexless,  106 
Geneva,  lake  of,  15 
Germicidal  poison  in  the  blood,  348 
Gericault,  his  picture  of  a  galloping 

horse,  57 

Ginko  tree,  106,  114 
Gioconda,  La,  212 
Glacial  periods,  38,  39,  41 
Glacier  grains,  26 

scratches  and  polish,  49 

the  Corner,  big  enough  to  build 

three  cities,  46 
Glaciers,  29 

flow  of,  45 

increase  and  shrinkage  of,  35 

movement  of,  35 

vast  size  of  ancient,  35 
Gletsch,  23,  25 
Globe-flower,  16 
Gnaphalium  leontopodium,  6 
Goa-stone,  94 

Goat,   skull   and   jaw   of  common, 
150,  151 

the  rat-toothed  (figure),  155 
Gregory  XIII,  Pope,  suppressed  ten 

days  in  the  calendar,  263 
Grew,  the  discoverer  of  the  fertilising 
action  of  pollen,  102 


4oS 


INDEX 


Grote,  Mrs.,  on  Owen's  smile,  21 1 
Grimsel  pass,  28 

Guinea,  New,  pygmy  men  of,  237 
Gulliver  and  Hercules,  236 

Harpoon,  the  shot,  invented  by 
Sven  Foyn,  the  great  means 
of  exterminating  whales, 

37.8 

Harvey's  dictum,  223 
Heart,  reversible,  of  Ascidians,  280 
Heaving,  an  English  custom,  269 
Herb,  Paris,  21 
Herodotus,  87 

on  the  African  pygmies,  236 
Herring's  racing  plates,  56 
Hirase    and    Ikeno,    Japanese    dis- 
covers, 115 
Horse-jumping  (figure),  59,  64 

the  galloping,  52 

various  figures  of,  55,  57,  59,  64 
Hortus   sanitatis,   picture  from  the, 

89 

Hotels,  bad  food  in,  176 
Huli,  a  Hindoo  feast,  269 
Huxley  and  Lionel  Beale,  392 
Hyena,  the  laugh  of  the,  208 

Ice,  colour  of,  47 

properties  of,  31 
Ice-caves,  43 
Ignorance,  the  scientific  man  admits 

his,  403 

Illusions  as  to  size,  81,  82 
Immunity,  346—348 
Incubus,  the,  228 
Infants  killed  by  house-flies,  344 
Inoculations,  346-348 
Insects,  fertilisers  of  flowers,  17 
the  cause  of  the  colours  of  flowers, 

1x8 

Interlaken,  i 

Interpreters  of  science  needed,  395 
Irrigation,  need  of  this  great  art  and 

modern  engineering,  371 
Ivory   known   before    the  elephant, 

133 

Japanese  picture  of  galloping  horse, 

59 
Jenner  introduced  inoculation  with 

cowpox  to  protect  against 

smallpox,  347 


Jephson,  Mr.,  and  the  great  elephant's 

tusks  of  Emin  Pasha,  125 
Jewel  in  the  toad's  head,  85 
Jonson,  Ben,  refers  to  fern-seed,  96 
Julius  Caesar  and  the  calendar,  262, 

263 

Jungfrau,  7 
railway,  1 1 

Kew  Gardens,  green  rose  in,  112 
Kisses,  193 

two  kinds  of,  193 
Kissing  an  exploration  by  smell,  195 

between  men,  abandoned,  194 
Koban,  flying  gallop  (figure),  57 
Koran,     drinking      the     ink    which 
has    been   used   to   write  a 
sentence  of  the,  95 
Krebstein,  stone  from  crayfish,  93 

Laplanders,  237 
Laugh  of  derision,  211 

of  escape,  209 

of  exultation,  21 1 
Laughter,  205 

of  animals,  207,  208 

origin  of,  207 

value  of,  206 

varieties  of,  207 
Leonardo  da  Vinci,  bust  supposed  to 

be  by  him,  272 

Lepidotus,  fossil    fish,  the  teeth   of 
which   are  the  toadstones, 

91 

Lerida  rock  shelter,  248 
Lice  in  the  heads  of  80  per  cent,  of 

rural  school-children,  333 
regarded  with  favour,  332 
Liitschine  Valley,  i 

Maggots,  views  of  early  writers  as  to 

their  origin,  223 
Magic  and  medicine,  94 
Majorca,  extinct  rat-toothed  goat 

discovered  there,  150 
Make-believe  and  children,  257 
Malaria  and  mosquitoes,  333 
Malic  acid  and  chemotaxis,  109 
Mammoth  destroyed  by  man,  366 

the,  of  Siberia,  122 
Man  as  a  carrier  of  disease,  343 
Man,  the  flower  of  all  the  ages,  400 
Marchantia-like  growth  from  fern- 
spore,  100,  1 01 


INDEX 


409 


Martagon  lily,  20 

Marten  cat,  24 

Mastodon,  the  American,  142 

Meaning  and  real  nature  of  things,    I 

390 

Medicine  and  magic,  94 
Memory  and  smells,  185 
Mercedonius,  the  intercalary  month, 

261 

Meritherium,  147 
Metchnikoff    and    phagocytes,  352, 

355. 
Miani,  pygmies  brought  to   Naples 

by,  234 

Microbes,  Pasteur's  word,  339 
Milton,  his  notion  of  creation,  223 
Minropies,  a  pygmy  race,  230 
Miracle,  the  perpetual,  of  existence, 

403 

Miracles  —  a    buttercup,    a     rock- 
crystal,    a      glacier,      the 
noonday  sun,  402 
Misconceptions  about  science,  388 
Mites  and  itch  insects,  296 
Mithridates  and  poison,  349 
Molar  teeth  of  man,  169 
Monaco,  the   Prince  of,   books  pro- 
duced at  his  charges,  247 
Monkeys  and  typhus  fever,  336 
Montagu,  Lady,  introduced  inocula- 
tion for  smallpox,  347 
Month,  lunar  and  calendar    distin- 
guished, 261 
the  Greek,  259 
Months,  Chinese  names  of  the,  264 

Roman  names  of  the,  261 
Moon,  apparent  size  of,  79 

artists'  errors  about  the,  75,  81 
the,  and  the  stage,  83 
the  other  side  of,  not  seen,  403 
suppositions  as  to  what  is  there 
cannot  be  entertained,  404 
track  of  the  rising  (figure^,  77 
Moraines  (of  glaciers),  50 
Morot,  Aime,  painter  of  the  photo- 
graphed gallop,  56 
Moulton,    Lord,    his    definition    of 

health,  346 
Muses,  ancient  and   later  names  of, 

3H,3I2 

Museum  and  Musee  of  Paris,  310 
Ashmole's  at  Oxford,  313 
of  Alexandria,  312 


Museum,  the  British,  313 

the  Victoria  and  Albert,  316 
Museums,  310 

badly  governed,  318 

no  agreement  as  to  their  purpose 

or  methods,  317 
service  rendered  to  the  State   by, 

321,  322 
Musk,  188 
Musk-ox,  rapidly  being  exterminated 

by  man,  378 
Muybridge,     his     photographs      of 

galloping  horse,  54 
Mycenaean  art  and  the  gallop,  62,  63 
gallop  (figure),  57 

Narwhal,  the,  385 
National  Portrait  Gallery,  327 
Nature  effaced  by  man,  365 
of  things,  a  miracle,  403 
the  order  of,  389 
Neandermen,  245 
Negrilloes,  232 
Negritoes,  232 

Negroid  race  of  Mentone  caves,  238 
Newgate,  gaol  fever  at,  330 
New  Year's  Day,  257 
laughter  on,  209 
of  the  Jews,  258 
of  the  Greeks,  259 
of  the  Mahometans,  258 
of  the  Romans,  258 
of  Julius  Csesar,  259 
New  Zealand,  animal  life  in,  357 
failure  of  the   colonists  to    intro- 
duce birds,  364 

rabbits  flourished  too  much  and 
ferrets  introduced  to  check 
them — failed  to  do  so  and 
became  a  serious  nuisance, 
363 

slaughter    of    native    birds,    and 
destruction    of  forests  and 
bushes  by  colonists,  361 
success   in   introduction   of  sheep 

and  cattle,  363 

Nightmares  of  our  half  animal  an- 
cestry, 399 

Notochord,    the,    of    the    Ascidian 
tadpole,  284 

Onions,  smell  of,  189 
Opsonins  or  relishes,  354 


4io 


INDEX 


Opsonising  microbes,  355,  356 

Oran,  in  North  Africa,  rock  draw- 
ings at,  218 

Orca  gladiator,  the  killer,  a  terrible 
hunting  whale,  385 

Origin  of  the  soul,  treated  by 
St.  Augustine,  402 

Osmunda,  royal  fern,  no 
figure  of,  in 

Owen,  Sir  Richard,  his  smile,  212 

Ox,  the  great  wild,  of  Europe — last 
seen  in  1627,  367 

Oxygen,  liquid,  colour  of,  47 

Paces  and  poses  of  wild  animals,  72 

Palseomastodon,  145,  146 

Papuans,  232 

Paris,  herb,  21 

Parmaceti  of  Shakespear,  272 

Parthenogenesis,  213-229 

Parthenon,  horse  from  (figure),  59 

Pavloff  on  digestion,  175 

Peacocks,  train  feathers  of,  as  ex- 
amples of  both  progressive 
and  degenerative  develop- 
ment, 307,  308,  309 

Pediculus  vestimenti,  331 

Pelorus  Jack,  a  friendly  whale,  380 

Penck,  Professor,  on  date  of  the 
glacial  period,  43 

Petticoat  with  five  flounces  on  a  pre- 
historic Cretan  statuette, 
252 

Petticoats,  prehistoric,  244 

Pfeffer's  discovery,  108 

Phagocytes  and  chemotaxis,  109 
the    devourers   of  disease  germs, 
348 

Photography,  instantaneous,  value 
of,  75 

Physiologus,  the  Byzantine  cyclo- 
pedia, 87 

Picture  galleries  must  not  be  too 
large,  326 

Pictures    and    specimens,    reserved 
and   exhibited    collections, 
326 
prehistoric,  of   human  beings,  249 

Pine-cone,  diagram  of,  1 1 1 

Pinkus,  Dr.,  on  spermaceti  in  Dr. 
Bode's  bust,  273 

Pinus  strobus,  23 

Plants  exterminated  by  man,  369 


Pliny  on  toadstone,  92 

Poa  alpina,  20 

Poison- producing  parasites,  341 

Poisoning  of  rivers  by  civilised  man, 

368 

Pollen  carried  by  wind,  113,  114 
Polypody  fern,  spore-cases  of  (figure), 

96 

Prancing,  61 

Prehistoric  petticoats,  244 
Primitive    man    and    the    belief    in 

spirits,  demons  and  ghosts, 

397 

Prothallusfrom  spore  of  fern,  100,101 
Protozoa  contrasted  with  bacteria  as 

disease  germs,  340 
Pygmies  of  the  Nile  on  a  Greek  vase 

(figure),  235 
the  Mincopies,  Akkas,  Bushmen, 

^Etas  and  Samangs,  230 
Pygmy  hogs,  deer,  buffaloes,  240 
races,  advantages  of,  241 
races  of  man,  230 

regarded  as  pathological,  242 
why  do  they  exist  ?,  239 
Pyrola,  20 

Pyrosoma — a    phosphorescent  com- 
pound Ascidian,  299-301 
Pyrrhus  and  his  elephants,  133 

Quartz,  smell  given  out  by,  192 

Races,  pygmy,  230 

Rat,  the  Coypu,  skull  and  jaw  of,  152, 

153 

Rat-toothed  animals,  156 

Records,  to  keep,  is  first  duty  of  a 
national  museum,  320 

Redi,  his  experiments  on  the   pro- 
duction of  maggots,  223 

Re-gelation,  31,  33 

Reinach  on  galloping  horse,  60,  61 
on  Joan  of  Arc's  laughter  before 
the  stake,  210 

Reindeer  men,  245 

Reproduction  without  fertilisation  of 
the  egg,  221 

Retina,  impression  on  the,  53 

Rhone  glacier,  25,  27 

Rivers  poisoned  by  man,  368 

Roasting  of  meat,  decline  of,  177 

Robin     redbreast    disliked    by    the 
New  Zealand  colonists,  364 


INDEX 


411 


Roches  moutonnees,  49 
Rodin,  the  sculptor,  84 
Rorquals  or  finners,  377 
Rose,  the  Alpine,  16 
Rose,  the  green,  112 
Rotisseur,  the,  183 
Royal  fern,  osmunda,  no 
figure  of ,  1 1 1 

Sago,  the  yellow,  fertilisation  of,  4 

St.  Helena,  plants  exterminated,  369 

Salvia  glutinosa,  4 

Salps,  alternation  of  generations  in 

the,  302,  303" 
floating  sea-Squirts,  302 

Schafer,  Professor,  his  presidential 
address  to  the  British  Asso- 
ciation at  Dundee  in  1912, 

395,  396 
Soheidegg,  1 1 

Schillings,    his    remarkable    photo- 
graphs, 73 
Schvveinfurth,  discovery  of  the  Akka 

pygmies  by,  236 

Science,  misconceptions  about,  388 
Sea-birds,  photographs  of,  71 
Sea-squirts  or  Ascidians,  277 
Secret,  the,  of  a  terrible  disease,  330 
Seed,  nature  of,  116 
Seeing,  some  account  of,  67 
Shah  of  Persia  wishes  to  behead  the 

Astronomer  Royal,  265 
Shakespeare   and   the   jewel  in  the 

toad's  head,  85 
refers  to  fern  seed,  96 
Shamrock,  false,  270 

the  real,  269,  271 
Simplification  and  degeneration,  293, 

3°4,  305-309 

Sinclair,  Mr.  Upton,  on  food,  164 
Skin,  the,  as  a  defence  against  the 

entry  of  parasites,  342 
Smell,  attraction  and  repulsion  by, 
200-202 

curious,  of  sponges,  187 

minute  size  of  particles  which  pro- 
duce, 199 

of  rubbed  quartz  stones,  192 

of  smelts,  of  mackerel,  of  snail,  of 
cuttle-fish,  of  musk-rat,  of 
musk-deer,  of  toads,  of 
civet,  badger,  and  fox,  of 
bats,  iSS 


Smell, sense  of,  differs  in  development 

197 

unconscious  guidance  by,  203 
Smells  and  memory,  185 
and  perfumes,  184 
caused  by  bacteria,  189 
Snow,  red,  34 
Snow-crystals,  33 
Soldanella,  17 
Solstice  and  equinox,  260 
Soul,  St.  Augustine  on  the  origin  of 

the,  402 

when  introduced  into  the  develop- 
ing individual  man,  401 
when    introduced    into   the  man- 
like ape,  400 
Spark,  electric,  used  in  photography, 

73 
Spermaceti  and  a  bust,  272 

chemistry  of,  273 

Sperms,  motile,  of  the  Gingko  and 
Cycad,  114 

or  spermatozoa  of  ferns,  105 
Sperm  -  sacs    on    fern's    prothallus 

(figures),  105 

Sperm-whale  or  cachalot,  273 
Sphenodon  or  tuatara,  358 
Spiders  compared  with  scorpions,  294 
Spirits  and  ghostly  essences,  397 

are  no  explanation  of  life,  398 
Spiritual  conception,  228 
Spore  of  fern  germinating  (figures), 

100 

Spore-bearer  (fern),  106 

Stage,  the,  and  the  moon,  83 

Star-patterned  mats  which  are  com- 
pound Ascidians  (figure), 
281 

Steatopygous  figures  drawn  by 
bushmen  and  carved  by 
Aurignacians,  252 

Stones,  magical,  from  various  ani- 
mals, 93 

Strata,  contortions  of,  8,  9 
I    Stubbs,painteroftheflyinggallop,6o 
I    Suffolk  crag,  39,  49 
!    Sulphurous  acid  to  ward  off  body- 
louse,  337 

Swift  derived  Lilliputians  from  story 
of  Hercules,  236 

Tadpole  of  frog  and  ascidian  com- 
pared (figures),  283,  285 


412 


INDEX 


Tadpoles  of  the  sea,  strange  history 

of  the,  276 

Teeth  of  man,  162,  166 
of  the  pig  (figure),  140 
typical,  138,  139 
Tetrabelodon,  143,  144 
Ticks    living    on    African    natives, 

332 

Tiger,  skull  of  (figure),  160,  161 
Toad,  jewel  in  its  head,  85 
Toad-stones,  88,  89,  90 
Toleration  of  poisonous  drugs,  350 
Totensee,  28 
Trout,  2 
Tuatara,  the,  a  New  Zealand  lizard, 

358 
Turtles,  the   green,   of   turtle  soup 

now    being  brutally  exter- 
minated, 379 
Typhoid  carriers,  343 
Typhus    causes  deaths  of    Russian 

medical  officers,  337 
fever,  330,  334,  335 

discovery    of   the  mode    of    its 

dissemination,  335,  336 

Vaccination,  349 
Veddas  of  Ceylon,  205,  231 
Vegetarians  and  their  teeth,  159 
Vernet  Carl,  his  picture  of  a  horse, 

57 
Virgil    on    mares   fertilised    by  the 

wind,  228 

Virgin  reproduction,  221 
Vital  principle,  a,  392 
Vitality    and     aquosity,     392,    393, 

394 

Wasp-like     waists     of     prehistoric 
figures  of  women,  250 


Water  and    the   aqueous   principle, 

394 

the    strange     and    peculiar    pro- 
perties of,  393 

Water-lily,  the  common,  112 
Week,  days  of  the,  259 

Greek,  of  ten  days,  259 
Weymouth  pine,  23 
Whalebone  whales,   nearly  extinct, 

376 
Whales,   annual  slaughter   of,  377, 

378 
extermination   of,    by  man,    375- 

378 

food  of,  386 

the    problem   as  to  the   effect    of 
pressure     on     the     diving 
whale,  383 
toothed,  384,  385 
value  of  the  whale  fisheries,  377 
Why  are  we  here  ?     No  answer  to 

this  question,  399 
Wind  supposed  to  fertilise    mares, 

228 

Winter-green,  20 

Wissman,  von,    on    English   grilled 

meat  and  London  stout,  182 

Wolf,    when    destroyed    in    Britain, 

367 

Women  drawn  on  a  rock-shelter  at 

Lerida,  Spain,  249 
Wood-sorrel,  the  shamrock,  271 
Wouwerman,  his  representation  of 
moving  wheels,  66 

Year,  length  of,  259 
Yellow  fever  and  mosquitoes,  332 
Yorkshire  pudding,  improperly  pre- 
pared, 178 

Zweiliitschinen,  I,  2 


ADLARD  AND  SON,  IMPR.,  LONDON  AND  DORKING. 


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Book  Slip-25w-7,'53(A8998s4)458 


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